


Multiverse is a Curse Word

by amadscientistapproaches



Series: Drifting Dimensions [1]
Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: :), Addiford, Adrift AU, Dimension Jumper AU, Drifting Dimensions AU?, Family Bonding, I balance it out with fluff, It's an AU, Lots of Angst, Multi, also some swearing, anyway, but I guess it depends on what you're used to, idk man, the descriptions of violence aren't too graphic in my opinion, there is violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-03
Updated: 2018-01-25
Packaged: 2019-02-10 00:26:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 36,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12900060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amadscientistapproaches/pseuds/amadscientistapproaches
Summary: In 2012, Mabel Pines trusts her uncle and refuses to shut a world-ending device down. She tumbles into it.Thirty years ago, a fight with his brother left Stanford Pines stranded on the other side of the portal he built.In another dimension, Adeline Marks becomes the world's first dimensional traveller when Stanford's portal trial goes disastrously wrong.That bloody portal was only the start of their inter-dimensional problems.Aaaargh! Just take it, I can't stand to keep it any longer!This is a kind of crossover between the_subpar_ghost's Adrift AU, where Mabel is sucked into the portal during Not What He Seems, and hntrgurl13's Dimension Jumper AU, starring her OC Adeline Marks, which kind of makes this a Drifting Dimensions AU, however it does not follow the plot of that either. Whatever, it's some Portal!Ford, Portal!Mabel, and Portal!Addi adventures, with a lot of angst, fluff, and family bonding included.





	1. The Trash Monster

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just be aware, I have not read Journal 3, so blame any incongruities with canon on that. Even if they do not relate to Journal 3.

The sky was green in this dimension. It glowed at night, turning the buildings of the city black. Ford speculated that it was probably due to radiation rather than a natural luminescence. He decided they would move on to a safer place tomorrow; there would surely be a portal appearing nearby soon.

A slap on his hands brought him out of his thoughts.

“Grunkle Ford! Attennnnntion! I don’t see those hands moving mister!” Mabel drilled.

Grinning, he replied, “Sorry sir, I was planning out tomorrow’s route so we can avoid sleeping in an alley again,”

They had indeed set up for the night in a back alley among several dumpsters. Mabel inclined her head as she looked around from their position on the ground.

“Well, it’s not _too_ bad, I suppose. I mean, look! Weird, gooey substances!”

Ford eyed the viscous liquid near them with barely concealed disgust.

“Alright, no lying on the floor,”

“Are you gonna be my pillow tonight?”

“Definitely.” He leaned back against the brick wall of a nearby building and opened his arms for his niece to clamber into. While he was arranging the blankets around them, Mabel jerked up once more.

“Wait! I didn’t finish teaching you tick-tack-toe,”

Smiling, Ford eventually appeased Mabel and convinced her to sleep with the promise that they would resume the lesson in the morning.

“Okay then.” She snuggled back into the makeshift nest and nudged him slightly, indicating she wanted more warmth. Happy to comply, he wrapped his arms around her. Ford felt guilty allowing even the merest trace of the thought to cross his mind, but at times like this he was indescribably grateful that Mabel had fallen into his life. He could not imagine it without her now.

“’Night,” Mabel murmured.

“Goodnight,” Ford responded softly.

“Don’t let the trash monsters bite,” his niece continued. The quiet laugh that answered this sent her off to sleep.

⃝

“Dammit,” Adeline said, banging the transmitter against her thigh. The blue pulse that was supposed to be emitting from the screen resolutely fizzled yet again.

 _Crap signal,_ flitted through her mind. She was too tired for this.

Sighing, Addi crossed the street, alternating between keeping an eye on the transmitter and the few citizens still shambling around at this late hour. The device crackled slightly, its light strengthening as she moved. She stepped into an alley and the signal picked up considerably.

“Yes!” A little further along and she could read the message clearly.

_Let’s see what they have to say . . ._

Movement. Behind her, something was moving. She was certain of it. Trying to act casually, as though she was absorbed in reading, she reached over her shoulder under the pretence of scratching her neck and tapped a button on the hilt of her wicked sharp sword. At the same time her eyes flicked up to the dumpster she was facing. Its metallic surface dimly revealed a figure standing up slowly behind her. They were drawing their gun.

_Okay then._

In one smooth movement Addi drew her sword, whipped around – and stopped dead in shock as the past glared back at her.

“Stanford?”

His hair was grey now, but that was no surprise. It had been thirty years after all. As he moved around so that his back was no longer to the wall, she could tell he knew exactly how to use the weapon he kept trained on her. He had traded in a scientist’s suit for a more practical fighter’s trousers and boots, which was also not entirely unexpected – you had to adapt to life on the other side of the portal. He was clutching a child tightly to his side. Now _that_ was very different.

“Who sent you?” Adeline’s old boss demanded.

“I – no one. What are you _doing_ here?” The reply was unpredictable enough to cause him to falter.

“What do you mean ‘what am I doing here?’” he recovered. “This alley isn’t private property! How do you know who I am?”

A flash of annoyance shot through Addi.

“I’m sorry? The person you built the first ever interdimensional portal on Earth with has escaped your memory?”

The girl next to Stanford gasped. “Mr McGucket? How did you find us? Wait a minute, you look a little different.” She frowned critically at the athletic blonde woman.

Now completely nonplussed, Addi stared again at Stanford. He looked no less hostile, but there was some confusion on his face now, too. How could he not know her? There was no way in the multiverse that _she_ would ever forget –

The answer hit her like lightning.

“Multiverse.” She cursed. “You’re not from my dimension, are you?” Their blank looks were enough of an answer.

Bitter disappointment coursed through her. It was stupid to think that. Stupid to think she would ever catch a break, that something would go right for once. Stupid to hope there might be a way home.

Angrily swallowing a lump in her throat, she stowed away Big Bertha. She wanted nothing more than to just talk to this version of her old friend a little while longer. However, Stanford was not about to let down his guard and decide to trust a complete stranger on nothing but their word that they were friends in another dimension. Especially not if he had a kid to look out for.

She stared at him a moment longer before turning away. Every step crushed her.

⃝

Mabel felt Ford relax his grip on her only after the woman had walked away, leaving behind a tight apology.

“She had a cool sword,” she remarked.

Ford nodded his agreement. “It was very unique,”

“Who d’ya think she was? She seemed kinda sad,”

“I have no idea. However, I think we can rule out Fiddleford McGucket,”

“Yep. No southern charm _at all_.” Mabel shook her head.

Ford made an amused sound. “Let’s get some sleep. We have a big day tomorrow,”

“I bet I can bring in more money than you,”

⃝

“How are you doing that?” Ford exclaimed in amazement.

The brightness of the crowded market square was such a contrast to the gloom and quiet of the night before that Mabel might have believed they’d fallen onto another planet – that is, if the sensation of going through portals wasn’t impossible to ignore.

She was sitting on the countertop of one of the gambling stalls, playing a game with the owner while Ford stood beside her and watched. As far as she could tell, she’d won the last eight rounds and the owner was getting antsy.

“I have no idea!” she replied happily. “No really, I’m not sure what I’m doing.”

“Well, you have a talent for it.” Ford scooped their winnings into a pocket. That coat of his never seemed to run out of space.

“Uh huh. Grunkle Stan taught me well,” This time there was only a slight tremble in her voice when she mentioned home. She was getting better.

The stall owner made a frustrated sound. Ford quickly thanked him and took Mabel’s hand, heading into the crowds. Mabel waved a goodbye, but the large, red, five-armed being only glared.

“I don’t think that guy liked me winning all that money off him,” she said slightly nervously. Ford tightened his grip on her hand when he looked back and saw the gambler examining the dice Mabel had been using.

“Let’s get out of here quickly. Gamblers don’t like to lose, and I have seen some accuse their opponents of swindling them simply as an excuse to take back their money. You don’t want to know what they do to the _actual_ cheaters,”

A cold feeling of dread settled in the pit of Mabel’s stomach. Unfortunately, her uncle noticed her unusual silence and looked down at her. She was too late to wipe the guilty expression from her face. Ford's eyebrows shot up.

“You were cheating?” he said in disbelief.

Mabel swallowed. “Um . . . I think so?”

An enraged roar from behind them was followed by the sound of thundering footsteps.

“RUN!” Ford shouted, shoving her forwards while drawing his gun. “Get back to the al-”

He was tackled by a murderously snarling blur of red, all six orange eyes fixed on Mabel. Heart in her mouth, she sprinted away. The sound of Ford’s laser gun thinned out the crowd like magic.

Why the heck had she cheated? It had been so easy, sure, but she was usually fine without it. What had she been thinking? What if Ford couldn’t take that guy, what if he got hurt, what if –

Her breath was hitching in her chest and terror was pumping through her veins. She’d been running for a while, and oh no, she couldn’t stop now, she needed to get help, but she didn’t know anyone –

She skidded around a corner and collapsed to her knees, looking around wildly. If she just asked, someone was bound to help, right? She looked desperately around the new square she was in, but no one seemed to care about the gasping kid on the ground or the sounds of laser fire coming from a few blocks over, sweet Moses she could use a familiar face . . .

With a startled “HEY!” she saw one.

Mabel crashed into the blonde woman’s side, succeeding in getting her attention but failing Step Two in that she could only cough and cling desperately to her sleeve.

“Kid? Are you alright? Where’s Stanford?”

Still valiantly trying to retake control of her lungs, Mabel gestured helplessly towards the sounds of yelling and gunfire. The woman seemed to understand immediately. She drew her sword and took off running, Mabel right behind her.

They arrived just in time to see Ford get thrown against a wall.

⃝

Various swear words swam through Ford’s mind, echoed vehemently by his aching body. He could taste blood, and purple flashes were obscuring his vision. His ears were ringing. He also could not get his legs under him in order to stand up. The dislocated shoulder though, he could feel clearly.

The gambler, now in possession of Ford’s gun, levelled it at him.

_Shit._

He reached for a piece of rubble with his good arm, which, if thrown, might just be enough to injure and/or distract the man while he got to his feet . . .

Yes. All his other attacks so far had failed but if he used a _rudimentary projectile –_

The treacherous thought did not get the chance to go to completion. Sword flashing, a tall blonde woman stepped between them just as the red giant fired, although instead of the laser burning straight into her it . . . fragmented. It seemed to break before it reached her, into pieces that dissipated in the air.

Not seeming to believe his eyes, something Ford could not blame him for, the attacker fired again, only for the same thing to happen. With that, a physical hand-to-sword assault was attempted.

Mabel crouched down in front of him, blocking the view.

“Grunkle Ford! Oh my gosh, are you okay? I’m so, so sorry, I didn’t mean for this to happen! I’m gonna get you out of here, I promise,”

Unable to coherently reply, Ford was forced to make like a sack of potatoes and have his good arm slung around his twelve-year-old niece’s shoulders while the rest of him was heaved halfway off the ground. He was impressed Mabel managed to do even that much. An absurdly-timed flicker of pride blew through him.

While trying to coerce his legs into taking some of his weight, Ford found himself facing the fight. Blearily, he watched as the woman fended off a blow with one hand, her sword somehow not breaking under the impact of the being’s punch, but also failing to penetrate his skin, just as lasers had.

“Wait!” she called out sharply. She made a quick signal with her free hand. After a tense moment, the red gambler lowered his fists and walked away, all hostility disappearing like smoke. Breathing a sigh of relief, the woman turned and hurried towards them.

“Are you okay?” she asked, her hazel eyes meeting Ford’s as she pulled his dislocated arm around her shoulders.

With an agonised groan, Ford thought that it would be acceptable to now fall into unconsciousness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hntrgurl13 I'm sorry I called Addi a trash monster. Also, I don't actually know what colour Addi's eyes are, I've just always pictured them as hazel. If they're actually a different colour, let me know, I'll change it.
> 
> Edit: I have the go-ahead to keep them hazel, but they are actually dark blue. :)


	2. Hand Signals to Befuddle Your Enemies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Adrift AU was brilliantly created by the_subpar-ghost, and Adeline Marks, the Dimension Jumper AU, and the Drifting Dimensions AU were all created by hntrgurl13. The Addiford ship, although not here yet, is due to the wonderful mind of scipunk63.
> 
> I'm also on Tumblr as a-mad-scientist-approaches.
> 
> Bill Cipher won't make any appearances in this fic. The closest I'll get is mentioning his expansive influence.

The scenery whipped past silently, and sunlight streamed through the transparent walls of what Mabel had dubbed The Trainbulance. It had docked over the market place shortly after Ford had passed out. Apparently, fights were fairly common in that place, and medical help was permanently stationed nearby to pick up the pieces.

Her uncle jolted awake right next to her, shooting from horizontal to sitting upright almost instantly. His right hand automatically reached for the gun that Mabel had, with wise forethought, temporarily removed from its holster.

“Whoa! Grunkle Ford! It’s okay!”

Eyes wide and breathing hard through his nose, Ford focused on her after a moment of taking in his surroundings.

“Are you alright?”

“Me?” Mabel laughed worriedly. “What about you?”

“I’m-” Ford looked down at the recovery bed he was lying in, and then at his newly re-located shoulder. “Fine, actually.” He sounded surprised. “Where are we?”

Grinning so wide she thought every one of her braces must be showing, Mabel joyously exclaimed, “The Trainbulance! It can fly! And we don’t even have to pay for it or anything, Addi’s settled it all with the driver. I think she’s magic,” she added in a conspiratorial whisper.

“Addi?” Ford inquired.

“Right here.” Adeline said, stepping into the compartment. “Adeline Marks, your saving grace.” She introduced herself with a playful smile.

⃝

Adeline wore tattered clothes in brown and grey, and her wrists and hands were wrapped like a boxer’s. Ford knew immediately that he should not get on the wrong side of the sword strapped to her back; he had seen how fast it could be drawn. Her choppy blonde hair had a few grey streaks, and her right cheekbone wielded a couple of horizontal scars. Ford estimated that she was perhaps a few years younger than himself and had seen at least as much action, if not more, judging by the confident way she held herself – like she knew she was more than a match for anyone she crossed.

“I think she can hypnotise people with sign language, too,” Mabel supplied. Ford was suddenly aware that he had done nothing but stare at Adeline since she had walked into the room, and cleared his throat.

“Thank you for your help,” he said sincerely.

“Anytime,” she replied easily, “but Mabel’s the real hero here. She came and got me.” Adeline directed another warm smile towards his niece.

Mabel hesitated. Frowning slightly, she eventually took a breath and said to Ford again, “I’m really sorry. I shouldn’t have cheated.”

Ford swung his legs off the recovery bed and took her hands, making sure to look into her eyes. “Don’t blame yourself.” He said firmly. “Nobody’s hurt, that’s the important thing-”

“But you _were_ hurt-”

“And you saved me,”

Mabel sighed and leaned her head against his shoulder, still upset.

“Mabel, you and Stanford did not deserve to be attacked over a dice game, regardless of whether you cheated. If anyone’s to blame, it’s that jerk of a gambler. I mean, who goes after a kid like that?” Adeline put in. “Next time, only cheat if the other guy isn’t going to notice.” She winked.

Mabel nodded slowly, mollified.

“Where are heading?” Ford wondered.

“This, um, _trainbulance_ is going to drop us off at a place I know, run by some . . . colleagues, I guess, of mine. At the very least it’s a place to shelter for the night.” Adeline prompted, seeing his obvious reluctance.

"Adeline, it's not that I don't appreciate all that you've done," he began, "I would just prefer not to take any more risks than absolutely necessary."

"It wouldn't be a risk." Adeline said quickly and eagerly. "I mean, not by our standards, right?" 

Ford ran a hand through his hair, glancing at Mabel, who erupted into a coughing fit.

“I’m good,” she choked out. He really hoped she had not caught something from that alley. He should have tried harder to find a more sanitary, not to mention safer, sleeping place. It was hard to remember how much more careful he had to be now, especially with a child as uncomplaining and resilient as Mabel. That being said, no matter how guilty he felt it was impossible to find suitable living conditions all the time.

It would be best to take it where he could get it then.

“Okay,” he agreed, nodding to Adeline.

⃝

Trying hard to contain her delight and not freak out the others, Addi was suddenly reminded of something.

“Oh! A thing you may find useful . . .” She rotated her wrist around and flicked her fingers out.

“I think she’s trying to hypnotise us,” Mabel stage whispered, looking strangely keen.

“No, this is a hand signal.” Addi laughed. “It, well, it sort of means ‘I don’t want to hurt you, I’m on your side.’” She rolled her eyes at Stanford’s raised eyebrow. “At the very least it’ll confuse your enemies into stopping attacking, y’know, if you decide to just stand there and wave at them. But they’ll probably recognise it. It works in many of the dimensions I’ve been to.”

“You said ‘side’ as in side of a war?” Stanford picked up, perceptive as ever.

“No. Not yet anyway,”

“So, a resistance effort? Against what? Are you a part of this?”

Addi shifted uncomfortably. She’d wanted Wesley around to explain this. “I help out where I’m needed. I’m not officially a part of anything. If they need assistance they call me in, like with-”

“Recruiting?” Ford’s voice was suddenly as hard as steel.

“No, well yes, but not you, not Mabel. I don’t involve kids.” Addi became aware that the conversation had made a sharp turn off road.

“ _You_ don’t. However, in my experience resistances are often just as brutal and cruel as the institutions they overthrow,”

"I’m not trying to get either of you involved.” Addi raised her hands in a placating gesture. “I just think we could help you out.”

“We don’t need help,” Stanford said coldly.

Mabel doubled over coughing again. As Addi steadied her with a hand, the medical transport shuttle, which had been slowing imperceptibly, rocked to a halt. The cease in motion caused all three of them to sway, and Addi distinctly heard Stanford’s breath catch in his throat when he looked back at her. He froze up, and Addi knew, she just _knew_ that her necklace was showing. In the following moment of silence and stillness, Mabel’s mouth dropped open as she saw it too.

“It’s not-” Addi tried desperately to say, but then her two, well she couldn’t call them friends anymore, heard footsteps thundering towards them from the door behind her.

Things happened very quickly after that.

Mabel tore herself out of Addi’s hand and ran to the exit hatch in one of the viewing walls. Stanford kicked the chair she had vacated into Addi’s knees, making her hiss in pain. With a blast from the man’s gun, Mabel shot the emergency hatch off, and then they were gone.

“Damn it!” Adeline shouted in mingled anger and despair. The two resistance members she had notified to escort them to their base in this dimension hurried into the room.

“Why were you running? There was no rush!”

“The driver was getting impatient,” the blue, three-eyed, spiny one said uncertainly.

Taking a deep breath to try and calm down, Addi reached up and removed her necklace.

“Shit,” she whispered, gazing down at the little golden triangle.

“They freaked, huh?” asked Kot, a green, tentacled, octopus-like person. Their words were filled with sympathy.

“Yeah,” Addi tried to keep her voice from cracking.

⃝

Three days and two dimensions later, Mabel’s cough was only getting worse. She felt unsteady on her feet, and her temperature was stubbornly increasing. She’d also noticed Ford starting to cough.

They could _not_ afford to be sick.

They were both interdimensional outlaws – Mabel by association, Ford by intent – and any wrong move could draw attention to themselves. A one-eyed, yellow, demonic kind of attention. Their encounter with Addi had given them no choice but to keep moving.

“How far away’s the next portal?” she murmured. On the other side of the fire pit in the desert floor, Ford looked up from his calculations.

“Not far.” He said. “It will open in a few hours.”

Mabel nodded and shivered. She was too tired to speak. She was cold, even though she was wrapped in all the blankets they had. Even though she was next to a fire. Even though they were in a desert.

 _This sucks,_ she thought miserably. _Hey, never had an alien virus though!_ This didn’t cheer her up as much as it had two days ago.

Ford’s smothered cough almost escaped her notice as the crackling of the fire. A pang of guilt went through her and she sniffled. Worry painted all over his face, her uncle came and sat next to her, rubbing her back.

“S’ry,” Mabel said.

“No, I shouldn’t have let us stay in that alley,”

“Meant for bein’ a hassle,”

“You’re not. You never are,”

Mabel was pretty sure that was a lie. Ford was always counting their rations to make sure there was enough for two. He was more focused on earning money so they could stay in actual dwelling places whenever possible. He always kept a secure grip on her hand when they walked into civilisation, and had gone out of his way to get her proper travelling clothes. Most regularly though, he took the time to teach her about the calculations he used, the most common social customs he’d found, and how to operate what technology they had. To her, it was obvious how much of his attention she took up. It was nice of him to lie though.

Mustering up some last dregs of energy, Mabel asked what had been weighing on her mind.

“Do you really think Addi was working for Bill? I mean, the necklace didn’t have an eye. It was just a triangle,”

“I don’t know,” Ford said tiredly. It must have been the millionth time she had asked that question.

“I really liked her,” Mabel said sadly.

“I know. I’m sorry,”

After a moment Ford drew the blankets around her tighter. “Get some sleep. You’ll feel better in the morning.”

He’d said that every night since she’d gotten a fever. She never did, but thankfully it was always easy to fall asleep. Waking up was the difficult part.

⃝

Ford woke up to the click of a weapon two sand dunes over. Quietly and quickly, he shook Mabel awake and checked that the smouldering coals of the fire were not bright enough to give away their position. Then he stuffed all their possessions into their bag, leaving one blanket around the girl. They were ready to move in under a minute.

When he took Mabel’s hand she was shaking. Not only her fingers, but her legs were trembling as if they were unused to the strain of lifting her, and her shoulders were heaving with the effort of suppressing violent coughs. Feeling his mouth go dry, he looked into her eyes. Their brown usually full of life, it was shocking to see how exhausted they were now. She seemed only half aware of what was going on.

Enough was enough. Once they were through the portal he was getting her to a hospital.

They made it across three sand dunes before their pursuers caught sight of them. Breaking into a run, Mabel was forced to stumble forwards with him as best she could. Unable to hold it in anymore, she dissolved into a full-blown coughing fit.

When the blue disc of the portal burst into brilliance ahead of them, the pursuers started shouting. A variety of languages met Ford’s ears, those that he understood phrasing questions.

_“Stop! Who are you?”_

_“What are you doing here? Who sent you?”_

_“This is a warning shot!”_

The sand next to them exploded, red lasers leaving afterimages across the dark sky. Ford instinctively threw himself in the opposite direction, cannoning into Mabel. Then he was on his feet and drawing his own gun, only to have it magnetically ripped out of his hands.

_“Do not move,”_

Ford reached out to push Mabel behind him, but the only resistance his hand met came from air. Ready to dive at the nearest assailant if they had so much as singed his niece, his head snapped around to see her on her hands and knees coughing so hard into the sand it sounded painful. He started towards her but another warning shot flew between them. He froze.

For a few seconds, all Ford could hear was the pulse pounding in his head and the agonised gasps for breath coming from his niece. Then the two pursuers began their interrogation.

_“Tell us why you are here!”_

_“You were armed. That does not suggest a benign intention,”_

_“Are you affiliated with Wikert Expansion Enterprises?”_

Mabel tried to say something, but all that came out was a croak, quickly overtaken by more coughs.

“We’re just travellers, we’re only passing through-” Ford tried.

“Travellers do not live like criminals,”

“What is wrong with the child?”

“I don’t know,” Ford said, trying to keep his voice steady.

Mabel was trying to get their attention. She waved an arm out ahead of her in lieu of words, or so Ford initially thought. Her coughs were coming harder and faster than ever, leaving her with barely enough time to breathe. Her condition was rapidly worsening. Could she be hallucinating? Was that why she was waving like that? Various thoughts presented themselves to him with lightning speed, but no solutions were among them.

With a huge rattling breath, Mabel gave one last cough. There was a muted splat as something dribbled out of her mouth and hit the sand. Ford’s heart seemed to stop as the portal gave one last flare before it disappeared, showing him clearly the red blood his little girl had choked out.

She shakily wiped her mouth and stood up, swaying. Then she made the hand signal she had been previously struggling to: a wrist rotation, followed by splayed fingers. After a very still moment, the two others echoed it.

Right then, the words “Come with us. We can help,” were the only ones necessary to convince Ford to trust them.

⃝

The structure was a monumental block in the middle of the desert. It was as big as a town, and twenty stories tall. Ford was not sure how they had missed it when they had arrived.

Another cough brought his attention back to Mabel. The following sob caused his throat to close up. More on edge than he had been in years, he hurried them both through one of the entrances, their two guides signalling the guards to let them in.

There were only a few people in this section, all wearing a black symbol on their clothes identifying them as medics. A small wave of relief flowed over him, and he looked down at Mabel as –

\- as her eyes rolled back into her head and her legs finally buckled. Catching her before she hit the ground, Ford barely registered the panicked shout that left him, inducing the medical personnel to all hurry towards the commotion.

Ford swiftly checked Mabel’s breathing and heart-rate, neither of which were good. Her skin was clammy when he had been sure it was feverish only earlier that day. She was twitching slightly, but not seizing, which was indicative of –

A green, tentacled being started to pull his niece out of his arms. Instinctively, he jerked back, attempting to tighten his hold on her, but the stranger was already rushing away with the girl. Another swell of panic caused him to lash out, to try to stop them from moving out of his sight, even though he was dimly aware that _it’s okay, they’re a doctor, they know what they’re doing_. The hands of the guides closed around him for restraint, which only made him struggle harder. There was shouting, a call for help, an unintelligible reply, and a sharp prick in his right arm.

 _Fuck_ , was his last thought before he slipped into unconsciousness. Again.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't mess with doctors Ford. You should know they will eff you up.
> 
> How necessary was that 3-day time jump huh? Huh? Amiright?
> 
> Mabel's sickness is now giving me flashbacks to a nastily exhausting mission trip to the Philippines not long ago - minus the blood, but I reckon it was a near thing. I'm sorry Mabel my child :(
> 
> I promise, I don't intend to end every chapter with Ford being knocked out :)


	3. Stanford Pines, Guardian of the Year

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh jeez. A lot of fluff in this one. I hope it's not too weird. Also, you know what fluff means - there will soon be angst.

When Ford awoke, he was content. Not simply as the default state of waking up unhurt and momentarily safe, but really, truly happy. The last time he had felt so good he had had a home, a family, and a future.

He heard Mabel laugh and turned his head toward the sound. It filled him up with warmth and light.

She was sitting with her legs crossed on a recovery bed, talking animatedly to a green octopus-like person wearing a black medical band on one of their appendages. They had no visible mouth, but their voice emanated from somewhere under their main body, so Ford assumed they had a beak like many cephalopods on Earth. The room all three of them were in was unmistakeably a small hospital ward, with barely enough room for two patients. A two-way mirror encompassed one wall, the reflective side facing him and Mabel. This did not bother him as much as it normally would have.

“Wow, your tentacles are amazing! They’re so much handier than hands!”

The being chuckled and affectionately ruffled Mabel’s hair. “They’re pretty useful. I can do all sorts of things with them.” To prove their point, they curled three around to spell out “Kot.”

“That’s your name! Can you do mine?” The girl asked eagerly.

“Sure.” Five tentacles twirled around until “Mabel” was written out in neat cursive.

“That is the _coolest_ thing I have _ever_ seen in my _entire_ life,” Mabel gasped enthusiastically.

“Hey, looks like my other patient is awake.” Kot noticed suddenly, moving over to Ford’s bed. “How are you feeling?”

“Placid,” he answered honestly. He wondered if it was normal that everything seemed slowed down, so much less urgent than before.

“That’s the sedative. It should wear off soon.” The doctor explained. Ford tried not to feel disappointed.

“While you were both out I vaccinated you against the virus you picked up; it’s particularly nasty, originally a bioweapon manufactured by Wikert Expansion Enterprises. Only their scientists know how to counteract it, so you are _very_ lucky I defected, and even _more_ lucky I was here when you arrived,” Kot stared meaningfully at Ford, but the impact of their words was lost on him. The most he could do was try to nod seriously.

“I also had to synthesise Mabel’s blood and perform a transfusion to keep it from advancing into the third stage. I assumed that would be okay as you do seem to care for her well-being, although this was a bit of a toss-up seeing as you tried to attack me when I was getting her help,” Again, the barbed comment did little to disrupt Ford’s complacency.

“A thank you would be nice,” Kot said sharply.

“Thank you,” Ford said, channelling as much gratitude as he could into the words.

“You’re welcome.” With that, the doctor spun around and headed through the exit. “Whenever you like, Mabel. Feel free to take your time.”

Mabel smiled her acknowledgement of the cryptic message and hopped off her bed to approach Ford.

“You look really happy.” she said conversationally. “It’s weird. Usually you’re a big frowny-face.”

Ford laughed. “I expect I’ll be back to being grumpy soon, never fear.” It was strange how soft everything felt. He stretched out a hand and tucked a lock of hair behind his niece’s ear. “That was clever thinking, with the resistance signal. I would not have remembered it, especially if I had been as sick as you. You’re a smart person, Mabel.”

When she beamed at the praise it was as though the Sun had come out.

“Friendship is the best weapon to fight with!” she said wisely. “Metaphorically, I mean. Literally, it’s probably those cannons we saw on Tetrax 4.”

Despite the sedative’s uncannily effective soothing power, the reality of how close they had both come to the doors of death was starting to sink in. Still not removing his hand from cupping the back of her head, Ford felt a surge of affection for his niece.

“Mabel, I love you so much, and I am so glad you’re safe,”

“Awww, I love you too,” she gave him a warm hug, grinning broadly. Ford was pretty sure she was laughing at his ridiculously serene state, however this same state kept him from being bothered.

“The resistance people want to talk to you.” Mabel said, pulling back.

“Okay.” Ford nodded, sitting up.

“But you gotta _promise_ you’re not gonna freak out and go all paranoid. Kot said they know that’s a running thing with you.” Mabel gave him a stern look. Bemused, Ford promised.

“YOU CAN COME IN NOW!” Mabel yelled at the two-way mirror.

The door swung open and Adeline Marks stepped through. The first thing she did was walk over and swat Ford’s shoulder.

⃝

Beyond the mirror was a small room with a station that monitored the health of the patients. This was where Adeline took him to berate him for running off and almost dying. By the time she had finished he was sure the sedative was wearing off, as he was no longer in as good a mood as previously. He wondered why she cared.

Adeline was not wearing her overcoat.

“Where’s your necklace?” He asked, tendrils of suspicion starting to creep back into his mind.

“I took it off so you wouldn’t get the wrong idea again,”

After a slight hesitation, she pulled it out of her pocket and handed it to him. It was a plain gold triangle, no decorations of any kind. Most significantly, it did not even have the barest _hint_ of a circle in the middle to act as an eye. There was no way Cipher was watching through this.

“Alright,” he relented, giving it back. “I apologise. However, you can’t blame me for reacting the way I did. Why do you have something like that?”

“It’s the only thing I have left from home.” Adeline said simply. “I’ve had it for over thirty years, ever since I fell through the portal. I’m not giving it up now.”

Ford nodded in understanding. After a few quiet seconds, Adeline ventured, “So . . . when you built your portal, I wasn’t there?”

“No, only Fidds,” he winced.

“Did you come through on purpose?” It was impossible to miss the hopeless pleading in her question, the idea that there might be a way home hovering just out of reach.

“I’m sorry, no. It . . . was an accident,” That did not stop him from being angry.

As though she had read his thoughts, Adeline said sympathetically, “I was angry for a while too. Even though it was an accident, and I’d managed to tell you what Bill was planning, what was on the other side . . . I still wanted you to open that portal back up and come find me. Which was selfish, I know,” she sighed, “and I’m glad you didn’t. Fate of the world and all.”

Unsure how to respond, Ford kept quiet. Relative strangers unloading their issues onto him as though he was some interdimensional travelling therapist was not a frequent occurrence in his life.

They were shaken out of their thoughts by Mabel’s laugh from inside the recovery room. Kot was entertaining her with more tentacle tricks.

“Is she yours?” Adeline smiled, tilting her head towards the scene.

“No, no.” Ford said quickly. “My brother’s, sort of, I mean, she’s my great-niece.”

“Oh. Sorry. She’s a sweet kid. I was just wondering how she ended up out here,”

“Another accident with the portal,” Ford said darkly. “She doesn’t like to talk about it, but apparently something went wrong when Stanley, my other brother, turned it on trying to get _me_ back. So, she ended up here – in this hellscape called the multiverse.”

Seemingly unperturbed by the grim atmosphere the room had adopted, Adeline nudged him light-heartedly.

“She’ll be fine. She has you to look out for her,”

“Well you’ve seen how good I’ve been at that: participated in morally questionable money-making scheme, attacked by gambler, infected with deadly bioweapon,” he checked off.

“Occupied the attention of said gambler so she could escape, leaped into action the second you thought you were no longer safe, had to be sedated before you stopped trying to protect her.” Adeline countered. “You deserve a ‘Guardian of the Year’ medal.”

He had to smile at that, and awkwardly scratched the back of his neck. Ford had not really thought about it before, but it had been far longer than three decades since he had felt as though he was wanted around, much less needed. He’d missed that feeling.

Ford jerked his head up to look at Adeline in horror. _Shit, I didn’t say that out loud did I?_

Adeline was obviously biting back another smile.

“That sedative sure is strong, huh?” she suggested.

“Yes,” he said gratefully, clearing his throat and feeling the last of it trickle away. Even without it, he felt completely at ease in her company now.

⃝

Half an hour later, Addi decided to take them to the guy who ran the place. She watched happily as Stanford and Mabel walked with her through the structure, quite impressed. It was nothing special, other than its size - all grey concrete and rectangular corridors and square rooms – however, there was not a vast number of people situated there for a building of its enormity: only about a hundred. It seemed practically deserted.

“Is this some kind of castle?” asked Mabel in awe as Addi led them into a wide, open space. “I bet _this_ was the throne room. Kinda bland though. I can see why the monarchy crumbled.”

“No, this was a military installation of a corporation called Wikert Expansion Enterprises. A resistance cell took it back a few years ago, and it’s become a headquarters for them,”

There were groups of chairs strewn around tables, several crates full of messes of machinery, and a couple huddles of people playing card games here and there.

“Quite the operation you have here,” Stanford said dryly, looking around at the absence of activity.

“Well it is only the afternoon. It’ll fill up later tonight.” The man looked at her. “Alright, not by much.” She admitted.

“Yeah Grunkle Ford, they’re all on secret missions to fight injustice! How can we help?” Mabel enthused.

“No.” Stanford said sharply. “We will _not_ be getting involved with these people any more than we have to.”

“In that case, hopefully you will soon be on your way,” a new voice said.

Addi smiled at her friend, who shook hands with Stanford and Mabel. He looked like an upright polar bear, but with four arms and a face more human than snoutish. His appearance obviously delighted Mabel, who took the opportunity to stroke his fur during their handshake.

“Creepy.” He noted, slightly taken aback. “I am in charge of this resistance cell. My name is-” he made a growling, barking sound.

Stanford stared. Stanford looked at Addi expressionlessly.

“I call him Wesley,” she deadpanned.

“I do like that name.” Wesley nodded.

“Can I still call you-” Mabel replicated the sound exactly.

“You may,”

“Cool,”

Amazed at the girl’s vocal skills, Addi pulled out a chair at nearby table, gesturing for the others to join her.

“I of course have no wish to force you into our ranks. I know that not every resistance can be pleasant to get along with, as you have mentioned to Marks here. There are always a few that are keen to go to extremes,”

“Thank you for understanding.” Stanford said slowly. “I’m sure you have good intentions, but it’s not something I want to involve a child in.”

“Reasonable. We have room for you here, if you wish to stay – for however long you please. I will require a small favour in return, though.” Before Ford could reply, Wesley continued. “The technological floor of this building has many secrets that are sealed off from us. We have had some issues dismantling security protocols, and although Marks here has managed to get us most of the way, we seem to have hit a wall.”

“I mentioned that you’re a physicist, and you did a lot of coding in university.” Addi supplied, slightly apologetically. “I don’t know if you kept it up?”

“Yes, actually, I have a doctorate in it now,”

Stanford’s voice was casual, but Addi could practically _see_ the smugness radiating from him.

_Oh yes, I earnt a doctorate in technology and coding while travelling through dimensions, no biggie, in your face Fiddleford, I can fix my own computer now . . ._

She had to fight to hold in her laughter.

“Grunkle Ford’s, like, the biggest nerd ever, even bigger than my brother, and that’s saying something let me tell you.” Mabel told Wesley earnestly. “Grunkle Ford, if you don’t unlock this resistance’s lab, your nerd card will be revoked. Revoked I say!”

“I’ll do my best,” Stanford half-laughed.

“That is all I can ask.” Said Wesley fairly. “The main system is right here . . .” he waved a hand and the table sprouted a hologram. Mabel _whoooaaaaed_ at the sudden light show, and Stanford sat forward, examining the lines of code intently. After a moment he nodded and brought up a keyboard.

⃝

Mabel was starting to fidget. Addi watched as she swivelled around in her chair to look at the rest of the so-called “wreck-room”, then went back to staring at the colours in the hologram, then played with the edge of her uncle’s coat, then asked Wesley about his beaded necklace, then about the animal his boots were made of, and so on. To be honest, Adeline was getting bored too. Stanford clearly did not need any help.

“Hey Mabel, want to do something cool?” she asked impulsively.

“Do I?!” Mabel answered in relief. “Yes. Yes I do. Very much. Please.”

“Come on then.” Addi got up and nodded to a space a little way away.

“Stay close,” Stanford said absently, still absorbed in typing commands into the system.

When they got to the space she had indicated, Mabel asked eagerly, “So what are we doing?”

“Well, I thought you might want to learn some sword-fighting.” Addi grinned and drew Big Bertha. Its razor-sharp curved edge glinted, and an elliptical section cut out of it especially drew the eye. The girl was entranced.

“She’s beautiful . . .” breathed Mabel, eyes wide. “You’re like a pirate! Do you swashbuckle often?”

“Um . . . I wouldn’t know how to,”

“She looks sharp. Do you want me to hold her? I mean, sure, I _could_ have some hidden sword-fighting ability we’re about to unlock-”

“No, no, let’s stick to the safer method.” Addi said hastily. “There’s a couple levers in that box behind you we’ll use. And it might be best if you take off your coat. You’re going to get pretty warm.”

⃝

“Nooooooo! You’ve defeated me! Curse your hour and a half of training!” Addi wasn’t quite sure when their lesson had evolved into a pirate-themed play-date, but she did not regret it.

“Arrrrrgh! I hereby claim your treasure and your ship, and cast your crewmates overboard to be eaten by sharks!”

“Dude,”

“Sorry. Nevermind! I cast your crewmates overboard onto dry land, where they can set up a nice restaurant and be forced to earn their booty through legal means!”

With that, Mabel flopped down on the ground beside Addi, both of them breathing hard. There had been some _intensive_ play-acting.

Stanford and Wesley, who had left sometime previously, returned in triumph.

“Finished! There was a hidden firewall which activated some armed robots and almost set off an explosion, but I got to it in the nick of time. Anyway, how’d you two go?”

“Good. Addi taught me how to thrust, swing, block, and jump across pirate ships with a barrel of treasure in my arms,” recounted Mabel.

“She’s a natural, your niece.” Addi grinned up at Stanford. “Want some food?”

At their fervent replies, she motioned for Stanford to help her up.

“Cantina’s that way,” she said as he pulled her to her feet.

Another half hour later, Mabel finished her third bowl of soup and nudged Addi, who was sitting to her left on an extremely old couch. Stanford was on Mabel’s other side, warming his hands on a large can with a fire in it.

“Are they more resisters?” she was pointing at a group who had entered and were giving them curious looks.

“Yeah. Do me a favour and keep away from them. I’ll make sure they do the same for you,”

“Don’t you trust them? You’re involved with their movement,” Stanford frowned.

“I trust Wesley, and I think he has a good cause. But some of his methods can be questionable, and the people he gets involved . . . well, I don’t stick around for a reason. They’re . . . really not nice,” She had to keep herself from saying “fucking psychopaths” in the presence of a twelve-year-old. Fortunately, Stanford seemed to get the message.

“ _Mercenaries?_ ” he switched to another language.

“ _Some,_ ” she replied grimly.

“Hey! Include me,” demanded Mabel, nudging her uncle in his ribs. Her eyes widened as he jolted away, a small laugh escaping him.

“Are you _ticklish_?”

“. . . No,” the man said warily.

“Don’t listen to him Mabel, he’s the most ticklish person I’ve ever met.”

Before Stanford could open his mouth to form the word “traitor”, Mabel was on him, unleashing a battle cry of “I can’t believe I never knew!”

Addi covered her face with her hands, snorting at the panic emanating from the opposite end of the couch. After a few minutes of torture, Stanford managed to catch his niece’s hands amidst his involuntary spasming and restrain her enough to regain his breath and wipe his eyes clear of tears.

“I think I might have to get the security footage for this room.” Addi teased. “I’ll watch it whenever I’m sad and it’ll put me in a good mood for _days_.”

“Surrender!” cackled Mabel.

Stanford grinned and gave her a look. “You first,” was all the warning Mabel got before she was squealing and writhing around in turn, Stanford’s extra fingers doing a number on her.

“Help!” Mabel begged Addi.

“Uh, I’m sorry, a lack of treasure and pirate crewmates prevents me from performing any daring rescues,”

With that, Mabel was only released when she threatened to pee herself. Weakly, she retreated to the safety of Adeline’s end of the couch and sprawled across her, still gasping and giggling occasionally.

 _Definitely going to have to grab that security tape_ , Addi thought, wrapping an arm around the girl and laughing herself.

⃝

“You can stay in here tonight. All your equipment’s in the corner.” Addi directed as Mabel walked into the door-less room and collapsed on the bed. “You’ll have to share, sorry.”

“No, this is actually preferable.” Stanford said, glancing at the opening.

“All the old offices are like this.” Apologised Addi. “See you in the morning then.”

“Goodnight,”

She made it halfway down the corridor towards her own room before she heard the footsteps. Then she turned and hurried back the way she came.

Reaching her friends’ room, she seized the creature peering inside and shoved him against the opposite wall.

“Get. Away. From. Them,” she hissed.

“Aww, come on Marks, I just wanted a little look,”

“Well unfortunately you got it. Now scram!”

“But they’re humans! They only human I ever see around here is you, and you’re no fun anymore,” Dek wheedled.

Pushing down the sick feeling in her stomach, she sent his spindly form stumbling down the corridor with a well-aimed punch.

“I’m only going to tell you once: back off!” said Addi in a low voice. She reinforced the warning by flicking the switch on Big Bertha. The electric field it generated to disrupt and deflect lasers also worked as a deterrent against some species, thankfully. Snarling, he retreated, seeing that the only thing he would be getting for staying was trouble.

Adeline stationed herself outside Stanford and Mabel’s room.

_Looks like another sleepless night on watch._

Regrettably, she doubted Dek was the worst visitor she would encounter that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Got a bit dark at the end there. Sorry, couldn't resist, and it wouldn't be me if it didn't.
> 
> Friendship! Friendship! Friendship! Addi is happy! Yay!
> 
> AGENDERALIENSAGENDERALIENSAGENDERALIENS


	4. Broken Heart or Broken Bones - Your Choice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I usually name the chapter titles after a funny thing in the chapter, but this was an opportunity too good to resist. That, and nothing really funny or joyous happens in this chapter. Sorry guys. Last time had an overload of fluff.

“Doctor Pines, a word if you please,” Wesley called.

Ford rose from the couch they were cooking breakfast on and went over to the resistance leader.

“I thought it would be a good idea to let you know that we are planning to undertake a strike mission against Wikert Expansion Enterprises tonight, in case you wonder about all the extra weapons around,”

“Actually, there’s a good chance I wouldn’t have noticed. Mabel and I were planning to leave today,” informed Ford.

Wesley appeared surprised. “Really? When you have not even paid back your debt?”

Ford went cold. “Debt?”

“Why, we saved you, and your child, from certain death. We cured you, vaccinated you, even performed a blood transfusion, and you do not think you owe us anything?” Wesley asked innocently.

Ford stood silently for a moment, thinking through his options. This was undoubtedly a ploy to rope him further into the organisation. He had no problem harshly replying that no, he did not think he owed them anything, because when a child is in trouble you damn well help them, however he did not think Wesley would take a simple rejection for an answer. Fighting his way out would be tantamount to suicide in the middle of all these people, so that left one remaining option.

“Fine. What do you want me to do?”

“Come with us.” Said Wesley immediately. “I’m going to need the best two hackers I have, and _you_ are number one.”

 _The lab yesterday was a test,_ Ford realised. “Where are we going?”

“A research facility. Military owned, military operated. Fortunately, most of their personnel has been called away to address an issue I organised, leaving it up for the taking. We need your help to break into the data centre and steal one specific file: WEE.rc736,”

Ford took a deep breath, and paraphrased. “You want me to participate in an incursion to a military institution owned by an evil, interdimensional capitalist corporation, trusting people I don’t know or like to watch my back, all the while most likely initiating a warzone over a digital file called urine.”

“Not sure if you can handle it?” asked Wesley pleasantly.

Ford seethed. “You expect me to bring a _twelve-year-old_ into all this?”

“Oh no, by all means, she is welcome to stay here until our return,”

“ _If_ we return,” said Ford through clenched teeth.

“Are you going to repay your debt or not?” Wesley’s tone had not changed from that of an agreeable conversation the entire time.

 _I’ll just ask Addi to look after her,_ Ford reasoned.

⃝

An alarm rang through the complex and continued sounding as everyone began to move towards the hangar.

Ford had been trapped in a conference room with Wesley all day, going over and memorising a plan weeks in the making which the other eighty participants were already up to date on. He had not had a chance to speak to Adeline and Mabel.

The hangar was on the ground floor towards the back of the base, one wall completely missing to act as the exit. There were four shuttles inside, all of which would be used in the assault. As Ford made his way there he did not see either Adeline or Mabel, and he could feel the stress mounting. It was bad enough that he had to do this, and he should at least get a chance to say goodbye to his niece. He was striding over to Wesley’s ship with the intention of demanding he transmit a message to Adeline, when he heard her call out behind him.

“There you are. Here’s your niece, see you when we get back.” She clapped him on the shoulder as she passed.

“You’re coming?”

“Well yeah, I’ve got a database to help hack.” She frowned. “ _You’re_ not coming, are you?”

_I’m going to need the two best hackers I have . . ._

“You’re the second hacker,” he realised.

“Second?” Adeline’s expression was changing as she started to grasp what was going on.

 _Well who did you expect?_ Thought Ford furiously. _Of course it’s her, you just refused to think about it, blocking it out because it interfered with_ your _plans, because you needed her here, looking after –_

“What’s going on?” asked Mabel with a nervous smile. “Are we going on the mission too, Grunkle Ford?”

The very thought filled him with fear, and sent him small flashbacks to other resistance efforts, other missions, other battlefields, other soldiers who were little more than teenagers, dead on the orders of some faceless leader, explosions that rocked entire worlds, weapons firing every colour of the rainbow, dark dungeons and prison cells that were the price of failure, and everyone ceaselessly believing in a non-existent hope that things would get better when how could they? The equilibrium of the multiverse was too stable to change in his favour. It was a buffer system of bad things.

Ford’s heart started to beat faster as he frantically thought of solutions.

“No.” He said distantly. “Just me. Adeline and I are both needed to steal a file for this resistance cell.” He watched Mabel’s smile fade as her eyes flicked between the two adults.

“Wesley needs the best people available for this. He’s collecting on the debt we owe him for saving us,” he had no idea why he was continuing to explain. It was obvious she had already put two and two together and come up with a less than satisfactory answer.

“You need to stay here,” The acknowledgement of this reality shattered the unnatural calm which had befallen both of them.

“What? No, Grunkle Ford, I have to come with you.” She shook her head and used both hands to grab onto his sleeves, correcting him as though it was a simple mathematical error he had made.

“It’s too dangerous. I’m sorry Mabel, not this time,”

“No. No, you can’t leave me here.” She insisted, tightening her grip.

“I can’t _take_ you with me, Mabel. I’m not joking around, you _need_ to stay here,”

 _Why isn’t she listening?_ Thought Ford as he numbly tried to twist out of her hold. _Can’t she see this is serious? She could get hurt, she could_ die _._

The hangar seemed to be getting colder by the second.

 _She_ cannot _come. I draw the line here._

Regardless, Mabel was refusing to let go of him, and he could not bring himself to use more force than he already was. A quick glance behind him showed that Adeline’s face was going pale and Wesley was calmly continuing to direct weaponry and supplies onto the aircraft.

Ford was suddenly angry. Angry at Wesley for forcing him into this position. Angry at Adeline for involving him in yet another resistance. He was angry at Mabel for not listening to him, angry at Stan for pushing him into the bloody portal _and then_ getting his niece thrown in too. He was angry at Bill fucking Cipher for ever approaching him with designs for the portal, at Fiddleford for not trying harder to convince him of Bill’s treachery, at _himself_ for not listening to Fiddleford. At himself because he had no idea how to take care of children, or how to keep them safe, and angry at Stan _again_ because _he did_. He was angry that his anger changed nothing.

“Mabel, it’ll be okay, you’ll be okay here, I’ll come back-” _But how do you know that –_

“No!” Mabel’s shout was violent enough to cause him to stop dead. “No, it’s not okay, it’s not _safe_ here! You were awake last night too, I know you were, you _heard_ what was going on!” Tears were filling Mabel’s eyes now, whether from anger or fear he did not know. _Most likely both . . ._

His mouth going dry and his pulse was thundering in his ears. Yes, he had been awake last night, he had heard Adeline’s sword sing and the muttered threats she had given their visitors. Another thing he had refused to think about in his efforts to convince himself that Mabel would be safe when he left her, because the truth was he did not know what he would come back to if she stayed. It was no use trying to say that most of the resisters were coming on the mission, that she could hide, that whatever happened would surely be better than being captured, tortured and killed – _but that could happen here too_. The very thought of the results of either decision made him sick.

He turned to Wesley. “Please, is there any other way to pay you back? Anything?”

“I am sorry Doctor Pines, this is the only thing you can do for me. I need your skills now, on this specific job,” he said unsympathetically.

“Wesley, come on!” Adeline said, shocked. “She’s a kid! You can’t let her stay here alone.”

“I never said she had to stay. That decision was all courtesy of Doctor Pines,” Wesley said flatly.

“Wes, I can’t believe this! Let’s just go back to the original plan, Kot and I can handle it. Hell, I’ll do it by myself if you want a medic!”

“Alternatively, what if Wikert has safeguards that we do not know about? What if you hit a block similar to the one on the lab? No, Doctor Pines is coming with us, no matter what. Make a decision Stanford: choose to break her heart or break her bones, but do it quickly,”

The last of the ammunition was loaded onto the vehicle. Wesley started ordering the personnel into shuttles. The hangar began to hum as engines ignited.

 _Break her heart or break her bones. Which choice leads to which exactly?_ He stared into the girl’s own glassy eyes like he would find the answer there.

“Mabel, sweetheart, please . . .” _Please don’t make me choose, please understand, please do something to make this easier . . ._

“No.” Her voice shook but she held his gaze steadily, and continued to clutch at his sleeves like a lifeline. They might have been.

“We do not have unlimited time, Stanford Pines,”

“I know, I can hear the fucking sirens!” Ford snapped. _Of course this would happen, of course, why wouldn’t it, of course ofcourseofcourse-_

Hardening his heart, he turned back to his niece hating himself. She was going to stay here, she was going to be _fine_ , he was going to get the damn file, he _would_ come back, and he would figure out how to make this up to her. She would deal with it, and so would he. The tightness in his chest meant nothing.

He braced himself to pull away and said, “Trust me.”

“NO!” It was the seventh time she had said it, and the most shocking. The word ripped convulsively out of her, and the tears started to break from their dam.

“I mean – I mean, yeah, I do . . .” She struggled to find the right words. “But, the last time I said that,” she was looking at him, desperate to have him understand whatever was going through her mind, trying to convey a message that was almost too painful to speak aloud.

“I let go of the only thing holding me to the ground and I fell into the portal. And I’m sorry, but I really, really wish I hadn’t, I’m so sorry.”

That was the sentence that broke both of them. Ford sank to his knees and hugged her tightly as Mabel collapsed onto his shoulder, sobbing. There was no way he could leave her after that.

⃝

After a few seconds Mabel was able to regain control of herself. She peeled herself off her uncle and Addi came over to take her hand. She looked scared.

“Come on kiddo, let’s get you into the ship,” She sounded as confident as ever.

“I’ll be right there,” Mabel heard Ford say quietly. Emotionally drained, she was too sapped to feel embarrassed, or scared, or anything other than relieved. She wasn't going to be left behind. She wasn't going to lose her family again.

Mabel nodded, and Addi briefly squeezed her uncle’s hand before strapping her into a seat and sitting next to her.

From out in the hangar came a loud “Shit!”, which caused Mabel to wince, followed by the sound of a boot slamming into the aircraft’s side. Footsteps thudded over to where Wesley waited.

“If _anything_ happens to her . . .”

“Nothing will,”

“For your sake you should hope so,”

Addi’s knuckles had gone white.

Then Ford climbed into the craft and sat on Mabel’s other side, pinching the bridge of his nose. A moment later the doors slid shut, the alarms ceased, and the shuttles lifted up into the air.

 _No going back now_ , Mabel thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This time there is an overload of angst. So much angst!
> 
> I thought the most tragic way for the Adrift AU to come about would be if Mabel decided to trust Stan in NWHS, but it came to nothing anyway (kind of a theme in this story). I also don't think Mabel would really be able to come to terms with her situation if that happened. And then guess what? I WENT AHEAD AND INCLUDED IT. 
> 
> Wesley is a dick. Sorry if you trusted him, mwahahahah.
> 
> I kind of imagine the shuttles to be something like the Republic gunships in The Clone Wars. Just thought everyone should know that.


	5. The Gnomes Were Less Scary

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The acronym for Wikert Expansion Enterprises is WEE. I didn't plan it, it just happened. Therefore, I will make jokes about it.
> 
> More angst, here we come! (Please don't get fed up with me)

_“Resistance,”_ came Wesley’s voice over the speaker, _“you all know the plan. We are nearing the drop zone, so ready yourselves. Once we are inside the main building our primary objective is to secure file WEE.rc736.”_

Mabel couldn’t stop a snort of laughter escaping her. Addi flashed a brief grin, but Ford continued to stare tensely into the middle distance.

 _“This file contains all the information Wikert Expansion Enterprises has about our resistance cell. We must not allow it to remain in their hands. Our secondary objective, to be accomplished only if we are certain of completing the first, is to seize control of the facility. The data centre there is the most advanced in the galaxy, and losing it will be a severe blow to our oppressors. Marks and our newest hacker will lead the infiltration into the hub of the building, while the majority of you will follow me in keeping our enemy occupied. Good luck.”_ The speaker went dead.

Ford knelt in front of Mabel and placed his hands on her shoulders.

“Mabel, listen to me very carefully. When we get down there, do not stop to look around. Do not try to help anyone who is hurt. Listen to _everything_ I say,”

She could feel a dribble of fear starting to creep down her spine. They’d been in plenty of dangerous situations since they’d met, and her and Dipper were no stranger to a bit of action and adventure (thanks to the general weirdness in Gravity Falls), but this time felt different. She wasn’t making any snap decisions in wild, random scenarios which were funny when she looked back on them. Now, she was about to walk into a virtual warzone – a carefully planned attack that relied heavily on everyone knowing exactly what their job was and what they were going to do. Strategy was usually Dipper’s area, whereas she always left room for improvising. Now, she didn’t even have her grappling hook anymore.

“You need to stay with me at all times.” Ford continued. “If that becomes unfeasible, then you go to Addi. Otherwise, keep a tight hold on my belt.” His face softened. “You’ll be okay.”

This stuff was serious. Maybe she shouldn’t’ve made such a fuss earlier.

“Your belt’s not gonna come off and show everyone your space pants, is it?” Mabel asked weakly in an attempt to lighten the mood.

It worked. Ford gave a small smile and kissed her forehead, while Addi coughed to hide her laughter.

 _“Over drop zone,”_ said the pilot into the speaker.

There was a clunk from the rear end of the ship. Mabel watched as the other aircraft also released canisters. They plummeted down towards the circular arrangement of buildings below until she could no longer see them.

There was an immense cracking sound, and what looked like four shockwaves spread out from underneath the ground. She could hear the boom as one building collapsed entirely into a hole and another crumbled like LEGO pieces. The central structure, shaped like a massive disc, was the most undamaged.

The black sky lit up with green laser fire. The shuttles dived. Three of them landed close to the building providing the brunt of the attack, resistance fighters pouring out to meet soldiers. Mabel’s shuttle flew over them, towards the disc building. As soon as they touched down, Mabel hit the release on her straps and wrapped a hand around Ford’s belt. She saw Addi press a button on her sword, and when she led them out lasers shattered against an invisible force field.

The building was right in front of them, but Ford made a sharp turn to the right, firing his gun left as he did. The blast caught a soldier in the shoulder, but Mabel didn’t even see him fall as they were sprinting over wrecked, uneven ground towards a piece of masonry that had risen out of the floor like an iceberg. She skidded to a stop behind it, crouching and looking around for everyone else. _When did we get separated?_

Addi was behind a similar piece of rubble, closer to the main entrance. She was rifling through a . . . probably unconscious person’s pockets and belt pouches, her face unreadable behind circular goggles and a scarf covering her mouth and nose. The rest of the people from the aircraft were similarly behind shelter, half of them in the process of moving to engage the enemy, half remaining behind to cover Ford and Addi as best they could.

“Are you alright?” came Ford’s voice. He’d pulled on his goggles and scarf too.

“Uh huh,” was her automatic reply. She was honestly just guessing. There was so much adrenaline pumping through her she doubted she’d feel it if she got hurt.

“GOT IT!” shouted Addi. She pulled an ID card out of the soldier’s pocket and left her cover, running towards the door. “Override locking mechanism, authorisation G260500!” she read off. The door buzzed open.

Mabel resecured her hold on her uncle and then took off running again, trying to ignore the scorching heat of lasers passing close by them or the sparks they made when they hit the ground. The white lighting of the indoor hallway dazzled her, but Ford kept running, dragging her along until they rounded a corner and almost crashed into Addi. Thundering footsteps behind them heralded the arrival of the hackers’ defenders.

Addi’s arm wrapped around her shoulders in a quick hug.

“Holding up alright?” she asked.

“I remember . . .the first time . . . I was chased by . . . scary things.” Mabel wheezed. She sucked in a deep breath. “They were just gnomes . . . but still.”

“Bit scarier now, isn’t it?” Addi responded gently.

“Psssh, I’m fine,” Mabel waved away, attempting a grin.

Addi ruffled her hair. “We’re halfway done,” she reassured her.

They continued on.

⃝

By the second time she had to cannon into her uncle to save him from being hurt in a hallway attack, Mabel’s nerves were shot. She was jittery, sweaty, and she just wanted it all to be over already.

Addi slammed her forehead into the face of the last attacker, who dropped like an anchor. Pretty much everyone was cursing at their various injuries now, which would probably be funnier in hindsight. Ford tossed Addi her sword, but she handed it back to him and gestured to the right corridor of the junction they had stopped at.

“That leads to the control centre.” She explained, breathing hard. “Go straight ahead, then follow the signs to the left. This button here,” she indicated on Big Bertha, “activates the portable E-field.”

“Adeline, I can’t-” Ford started.

“Don’t be stupid Stanford, you need some kind of shield.” She inclined her head slightly to Mabel, and Ford nodded slowly.

“Then you take this.” He gave her his gun.

“Whoa, we aren’t splitting up, are we?” realised Mabel suddenly.

“Someone needs to raise the divider so that when we delete the file from the system, we delete it from Wikert’s entire network,” Ford explained quickly.

“I’m just gonna pretend that makes sense,”

“See you soon Mabel,” Addi said, heading down the left corridor with half the squad and determinedly not looking back. Trying to quench the thought that if they kept dividing then soon there’d be none of them left, she held her uncle’s hand as they moved off again.

“Almost there,” Ford said quietly a few minutes later. Everyone was tensing up as they closed in on their destination. Boots made almost no sound on the floor, and the violent noises from outside were dying down.

 _That could either be really good or really bad_ , reflected Mabel. They rounded a corner and almost ran smack into a significantly larger group of soldiers.

“Dang it,” someone said in the following surprised moment. Ford pressed the button on Big Bertha just as both sides opened fire, and unstoppably forged a path right through the middle of the soldiers. Before she knew it, every single one of the people in the hall were running towards the double doors of the control centre at the end.

“Hold them off!” hollered Ford, and then it was just him and Mabel, and she was through the opening, racing across the concrete floor, letting go of Ford’s hand so he could pull out some sort of space USB, and coming to a halt, staring around.

The room was huge, and behind the large hologram table Ford was already working on were hundreds of miniature satellite dishes, which glowed orange and pointed directly at the metallic back wall.

“Aww, they’re babies!” laughed Mabel.

“Mmmhmm.” Said Ford, already engrossed in the mainframe. “Where’s Adeline with that divider?” he muttered.

Suddenly the entire back wall shuddered and rose off the ground slightly.

“Ah, there she is,”

“That is one big divider,” Mabel breathed, as the wall groaned again and jerked upwards again.

“What is with this system?” Ford said angrily.

“Have you hit a wall?”

“No, if anything, it’s too easy to hack, not at all like the resistance base,”

“Well that’s good isn’t it? Something’s finally going right for us!”

There was an increase in the volume of shouting in the hallway. Mabel turned and saw the last standing resistance member catch a laser through their head.

It was as though a bucket of ice had been poured over her. She stood staring, frozen, as she watched the blue-uniformed figures start to run towards her. There was no escaping the fact that every one of those resisters had just been _killed_ , not knocked out, not subdued, but _murdered_. She’d stepped over bodies on the way here, but she’d thought – no she’d hoped that they were just sleeping. The people who had attacked them in the corridors, she’d seen a few go down to blows from Addi and Ford, but what about the ones that hadn’t? What about the ones the resistance had gone for outside? How was the resistance doing? She had heard explosions when they set down . . .

One of the people running towards her was outpacing the others. She was tall and light, but strongly muscled, and her legs were propelling her forwards quickly.

Ford hadn’t noticed yet – it had only been a couple of seconds, and besides, he was busy copying the file.

On the wall to her left was a square of blinking lights. Mabel might have been new to alien technology, but she recognised a control panel when she saw one, and she was willing to bet a room as important as this would have a security lockdown protocol.

She snatched Addi’s sword from the table and sprinted towards it.

She was twenty feet away when the being entered the room, heading towards Mabel, perhaps realising what she was intending.

Mabel was ten feet away she heard the simultaneous sounds of Ford yelling out and the pursuer firing at her. The shot sizzled by.

She was five feet away when she felt the being grab her shoulder and push her off-course.

She was three feet away when she jumped, twisted fully around and drove the sword as hard as she could into where she knew the control panel was, in a move Addi had demonstrated. Her momentum spun her around again when she hit the ground, so she was facing the doors as a reinforced metal plate thudded irreversibly down over them, trapping the rest of the soldiers on the other side.

Mabel looked wildly around for the one who had gotten through, hand reaching out blindly to remove the sword.

It made a _squelch_ as it came away. Then a thump as a body fell to the floor.

Mabel gazed numbly at the blood covering the weapon up to its hilt. It was the same colour as hers. She looked past it to the blood slowly seeping out onto the floor. There was a lot of it. She had to step back to avoid it.

“Oh,” she said faintly.

The face of the woman _she had just killed_ drew her eye like gravity. The woman _she had murdered_ had four eyes, all of them a yellowish-brown. The flat, herbivore-like teeth visible in her snoutish mouth were flecked with blood _due to how Mabel had stabbed her through the spine_.

Addi’s sword clattered out of her hand, the sound echoing around and around.

“Oh my God,”

Ford came up behind her and tried to turn her away from the scene.

“Oh my God,” she repeated, still looking at it. She was starting to feel dizzy.

Ford used more strength this time and pulled her around to face him.

“Mabel, Mabel listen to me.” He knelt down and stared directly into her eyes. “ _This was not your fault_. What happened was an accident, okay?” His face looked drained of colour. “Mabel, she only missed that shot because she running . . .”

_If it wasn’t her it would’ve been you. You gotta do what you can to survive, right? That’s how Grunkle Ford’s managed, right?_

Mabel gathered a bunch of the man’s coat in her hand. She felt so light she might float away.

“She – she didn’t deserve-”

She pitched over and vomited on the ground next to Ford. He held her upright as she retched again, but when she drew in a rattling breath the clammy, shaky feeling didn’t stop. She felt like everything inside her was trembling, about to come loose and fall apart. That’s when the crying started.

She was crying harder than she had ever cried in her life, drawing in huge breaths through a tight throat and letting them out in machine-gun chokes that wracked her body until she had no air left and had to start again. She couldn’t take it, she had just done something more awful than she thought she was capable of ever doing, and it had been an accident, but there was this overwhelming feeling of relief because _it hadn’t been her_ , and that was _wrong_ , and if she was evil enough to think that who’s to say she _hadn’t_ meant to do it . . .

There were too many thoughts swirling around her head. She screamed into Ford’s chest.

⃝

“Yes!” cheered Addi, as the hologram beeped in acknowledgement of her command and the divider trundled upwards unimpeded. Orange light from the data centre beyond poured into the communications section.

Pleased, she watched Stanford’s deletion signal fly, synching with the rest of Wikert’s database. Any back-ups or storage copies would be wiped when the attached virus came into contact with them, and resistance cell 736 would cease to exist in cyberspace.

The door to the communications centre opened and Wesley entered.

“The compound is ours.” he announced. More clapping and cheers from the resisters. “The oppressors have evacuated.”

Breathing a sigh of relief, Addi powered off the hologram.

 _Thank you for using the services offered by Wikert Expansion Enterprises: Technological Branch_ , it flashed before blinking out.

She frowned, an uneasy thought niggling at her. _That can’t be right, this place is military owned. Wikert’s technological branch is operated by civilians . . ._

Moving slowly, as though any wrong step could bring the world crashing down around her, Addi made her way over to the body of an unlucky soul who had been caught by a blast in the short struggle for control of the room. She turned him gently over and examined his ID tag. Underneath his name and authorisation code was:

_Wikert Expansion Enterprises_

_Technological Branch_

_Security Chief_

Adeline covered her mouth with a hand, not breathing. Slowly, she lowered it.

“Shit,” she whispered, “shit, shit, shit.”

“Yes Marks, you have something to say?” Wesley said, smooth and unworried as ever.

“You jackass.” She turned to face him. “You cowardly, worthless piece of crap. You-” her words ran out. She started again.

“I have wasted five years on your so-called force for change. I have undertaken I-don’t-know-how-many missions. And now, I find out that you have manipulated me, _lied_ to me, told me the places I attacked were military institutions when the people who lost their lives today can barely be classed as police officers. I can’t believe you. You say Wikert is the oppressor,” she snarled, “well you’re doing a damn good job of matching them.”

“Ease your mind, I did not always lie to you. You have _rarely_ been involved in our . . . let’s call them missions with a more _collateral_ nature. Whenever I did not tell the truth it was always for your own good,”

“It was always so you wouldn’t lose my support! You disgust me.” She turned on her heel and walked under the divider towards the data centre. “Don’t try to contact me again. I’m done.”

The little orange satellites warmed her legs as she passed them. She didn’t notice it too much. Her entire body felt flooded with heat and rage. How _dare_ he. She refused to think about. Not yet, at least. She would not think about all the attacks she had led. Or the people she had cut down. Or the triumph that came at the end of a mission. Or the exhilaration of feeling as though she had been doing some good in the multiverse. Or how it had all ended up as just another inevitable mess.

The data centre was oddly quiet. Resisters should have been celebrating in here, too. Instead, there was nothing, except for . . . the sound of crying?

Stanford was sprawled on the ground, hugging Mabel tightly. There was a body of another security guard nearby.

“What’s wrong? Where’s she hurt? Is it bad?” Addi raced over and knelt facing her old friend. He looked immeasurably tired.

“No, no, she’s . . .” he nodded to Addi’s left.

Big Bertha was lying on the ground, bloodstained. The faint glisten of a small red handprint showed on the hilt.

“Oh no . . .” Addi felt her stomach twist and her eyes fill with tears. “Mabel, I am so sorry, this is all my fault.” She reached out to take one of the girl’s hands and was surprised by the strength and desperation with which her grip was returned.

“This wasn’t-”

“A military base?” Stanford finished. “I know. It was far too easy to unlock the system.”

Mabel’s sobs were slowing.

“Let’s go,” Addi said quietly. Ford carefully stood up with the exhausted child in his arms and Addi retrieved and sheathed her sword. When they walked back into the communications centre, Wesley was the only person remaining.

“In all the excitement I think everyone has forgotten the reason we came here.” He held out his hand.

Mutely, Stanford passed over a cybercube, containing the only hard copy of information about resistance cell 736.

“Thank you,”

Before they could exit, Wesley spoke again. Adeline felt that he had no idea when to shut up. “In return for your help I am allowing you to leave unhindered. However, if our paths cross again, Marks, you should remember that you have seen the inner workings of my operation and have been privy to much of the information I believe this cube contains. You should also remember what I done in order to eradicate all traces of it.”

For a moment Addi thought Stanford was going to turn right back around and punch him. Heck, she was tempted to herself. Then the moment passed.

She couldn’t stop herself from having the last word, though.

“No,” she said as she strode away, “remember what _I_ have done.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooooh bad-ass Addi
> 
> I laugh thinking about the resistance fighters who were with Addi and Ford in their shuttle. They must have been so confused and fed up with these people and their drama. ("They're going to leave the kid behind . . . nope, she's coming . . . okay then, I guess we're also babysitters? Nope, she's sticking with them . . . and she's more important than us, who are actually doing something, got it, right . . . we want a raise,")
> 
> G260500 is my birthday! Apart from the G. That's just a random letter. It's an AUTHORisation code, geddit?


	6. Naturally-Occurring Nerdy Stuff

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time to balance out that angst :)
> 
> This is the last chapter I already had a draft for, so there might be a bit of a hiatus before the next update. Thank you to everyone who has stayed caught up with this crazy imagining of mine so far, I really appreciate it. Your comments have meant an unbelievable amount to me <3
> 
> About the only thing I know from Journal 3 is Ford's hilarious tattoo, so of course it had to make an appearance.

Addi felt guilt begin to crush her as soon as she heard Mabel whimper in her sleep. _She_ had given Stanford the sword; she hadn’t tried hard enough to convince Wesley she could handle the job; she had encouraged her two companions to stay with the resistance even though she knew Wesley might try to get them involved; she had become entangled in the resistance herself. Addi sighed. The mistakes just kept piling up.

At another whine from Mabel she abandoned her position on watch and padded through the silk-soft green grass to where the girl was sleeping. The beauty of this planet’s forests would be a sight to behold in the morning.

“Hey, sweetie,” she said gently, running a hand through Mabel’s short brown curls, “hey, it’s okay, you’re safe, you’re safe . . .”

Mabel opened her eyes and looked around, reorienting herself. Addi continued to stroke her hair until her breathing evened out. The sound of wind rustling through delicate leaves soothed them both.

Eventually Mabel sat up and rested her chin on her knees, shifting her blanket so that it wrapped completely around her. Stanford hadn’t been eager to retrieve their supplies from the shuttle (delaying their departure through a portal), but Addi was now glad she had insisted. Having a halfway decent campsite encouraged a feeling of safety and homeliness, something they all needed.

“Not sleeping tonight?” she asked. Mabel shook her head silently and leaned against Addi, who enveloped her in a hug.

“You know it wasn’t your fault, right?”

Mabel remained quiet for a few seconds, then replied, “I keep going over and over it in my head, but I can’t see it happening any differently. I mean, when I swung the sword I didn’t know she was there, and I _needed_ to shut the security doors.” She turned to Addi with anguish in her eyes. “Am I missing something? Was there anything I could have done to make it go right?”

Truth be told, Addi had no idea. Thirty years of travelling through the multiverse had pretty effectively demolished all her certainty and guarded scepticism. There was undoubtedly a universe where everything had gone right for Mabel, where no one had died or come near to death. There was also a universe where nothing had gone right. The chaos that perpetually engulfed the multiverse meant that Addi had rarely been able to do more than hope like hell she was not part of the latter, and wish that she occasionally caught a glimpse of the former.

“No. I think that was entirely out of your control.” Addi answered. “Everything has to happen somewhere, and that was what happened to you . . . but let’s play out a hypothetical situation: if you had missed that guard, and hit the control panel, what do you think would have happened afterwards?”

The teary girl thought. “She still had her gun . . . and she was definitely not afraid to use it,”

“Right. So regardless of whether she was simply trying to do her job, or protect her friends, or was hyped up on adrenaline, anger, or fear, she was also trying to hurt you and your great uncle. _You_ were trying to keep yourself and your family safe.” She let that soak in for a moment before continuing. “Mabel, it is wonderful when you can find a win-win scenario, but they are not guaranteed all the time.”

The girl sighed as though some of the weight had been lifted from her. There was still a long way to go, but it was a start.

“It’s not your fault either, Addi.” She said unexpectedly. “Blaming yourself for being betrayed is something overly-dramatic TV action heroes do to gain tragic sympathy from viewers. It’s compelling, but silly. And _you’re_ not silly, Grauntie Addi.” She finished sternly. Then she nestled into the speechless woman’s lap matter-of-factly.

⃝

Ford was awoken by daylight streaming through a parting in the trees to hit him precisely in the eyes. Rolling over to avoid it, he found he was the last to wake. Adeline and Mabel were both enclosed in a blanket, softly playing a hand game.

“Morning sunshine,” Adeline said when she saw him.

“I’m awake enough to recognise sarcasm,” Ford warned, sitting up.

“Sarcastic? I? Your paranoia is getting the better of you again, Stanford,”

“Here you go, Grunkle Ford.” Mabel deposited a fruit in his lap and crouched next to him. “It’s not poisonous, I ate one before you woke up.”

“You _what_?”

“She’s just messing with you,” Adeline said, shaking her head.

“Oh, so you _have_ learnt some caution,” Ford said, relieved.

Mabel laughed. “Oh no, I totally ate, like, three. But Addi knew it was okay,”

Still mildly concerned, Ford finished the sweet tasting food.

“ _Are_ you okay, though?” he asked tentatively after swallowing. He could tell by the shadow which temporarily dampened her light mood that she knew he was not talking about the fruit.

Mabel shrugged slightly, avoiding his eyes. “I could do with a couple million stuffed animals and a huge family hug pile,” she said, her voice catching because they all knew that neither were possible.

Regardless, he would do his best. He put as much love into the following embrace as he could muster, and the surprised giggle Mabel made when Addi joined in allowed him to believe that they were equivalent to at least a hundred fluffy toys.

⃝

“I wish we could stay here,” Mabel said wistfully as they packed up.

“As do I, however I think it would be safer if we continued to move on. That threat Wesley gave you was decidedly ominous,” Ford directed at Adeline.

“I don’t think he’d come after us.” She frowned. “Then again, I didn’t think he was a flipping insane-” she paused.

“Butthead!” Mabel supplied.

Ford nodded his agreement and checked the readings on his analyser before altering his calculations.

“Another portal should be opening up around here-”

“There!” Mabel shouted. “Bye forest!”

They stepped through the bright blue circle.

Ford had never gotten used to crossing dimensions, and he doubted he ever would. The experience was the same for everyone. They caught flashes of events from their alternate selves’ lives.

_. . . he was in a darkened room and a terrified boy who could only be Mabel’s brother was pointing a memory gun at him . . ._

_. . . he was in a hospital bed and feeling worse than ever in his life, but Stan was making him grin like an idiot by admitting he had read Tolkien . . ._

_. . . he was staring down in shock at the lifeless form of his niece, who had just managed to plunge Adeline’s sword into the control panel before being shot down . . ._

⃝

Addi shivered and took a deep breath, throwing off the lingering feeling that she was falling off a cliff towards the Gravity Falls river. Stanford was looking pretty shaken up too.

“Hello forest!” Mabel said cheerfully. Their new location was rather less pleasant, but it did seem to be another forest. It had dry, browny-green, tough-looking trees rather than the earlier lush, deep green ones, and raw, baking heat emanated from every available surface, reflecting the sun’s glare. The pale pink sky was stubbornly clear of cloud cover.

“We’re going to need water,” Addi stated.

It was almost three hours before they found any. By then, all of them were exhausted and soaked with sweat. They were also extremely tired of the rocky, uneven terrain.

Mabel let out a groan of relief upon seeing the river. Without saying another word she threw off her boots, her black coat, and her sweater, and flopped into the coolness, remembering to keep it away from her face until they knew it was a fresh water current. Addi, too, immediately stripped off her outer layers and sat beneath a tree on the river’s edge, allowing the cool liquid to soothe her burning feet.

Stanford held off his moment of peace, of course. She expected nothing less from the man who would work himself to exhaustion on the portal before he slept. He took out a capsule-like device and trickled some water into it. It beeped and flashed green.

“Okay, it’s fresh,”

Mabel instantly dunked her head into the water and lay face-down. Stanford added his own contributions to the pile of clothes, including a starry, dark blue sweater that Mabel had obviously made. This revealed something that made Addi snort.

“Nice tat,” she laughed. Ford flushed slightly and instinctively clapped a hand over the cheerful little star inked onto his neck. Its yellow colour exactly matched Mabel’s shirt.

“Shut up,” he said irritably, and waded into the river.

“I want one just like it,” Mabel enthused, coming up for air to hear the exchange.

“No. Never,”

“Aw, you’re no fun,”

Stanford narrowed his eyes. “ _What_ is _this_? My niece has suddenly become deluded and irrational! She must have been bitten by the deadly Lunacy Beetle of Madron, whose poison can only be flushed out by,” he surged over to Mabel, “extensive water exposure!”

Mabel shrieked and caught him in the face with a blast of water. This did little to deter him, and Mabel was plucked out of the river and mercilessly dunked back under over and over. Droplets trailed sparkles through the air. The girl’s war cries and vows of vengeance were interspersed with splutters, rendering her as threatening as a kitten. On Dunk Number Five however, she managed to grab onto Ford’s shirt effectively enough to pull him under with her, and when they emerged again they were both coughing up water.

“So is the madness all out of your system? Do you consider me sufficiently ‘fun’ again?” Ford asked once his lungs were clear.

“Yeah, yeah, you’ve made your point.” Conceded Mabel. “BUT, that water fight wasn’t fair. You are _way_ out of your league, old man.”

“Oh, well in that case, maybe I need to enlist Addi’s help. Together we should _surely_ be a match for you.” He turned to look at Adeline, but she was already crashing towards them. Ford’s confident expression was wiped away however when Addi dived at _him_ rather than his niece. Mabel cheered as they went under.

Below the surface it was difficult to discern much of anything, the silt being so recently stirred up, but Addi did see a glint as Ford’s glasses came off. She caught them in one hand and grinned mischievously down at him, close enough to see his matching expression. She was very conscious of how he had not removed his arm from around her waist since they had fallen. Also, she needed air.

“Is that a jet ski?” asked Mabel when they resurfaced. They looked, Addi returning Ford’s glasses.

The river was very broad, so much so that the opposite bank was a blur. However, there was what looked like a small vehicle heading in their general direction.

“I don’t think they’ve seen us. It’s most likely a patrol of some kind. Nevertheless, we don’t want to be noticed,” Stanford said warily.

On the bank they shoved their feet into their boots and Addi hid their dry clothes and bags in a bush. A layer of leaves combined with rock-hard dirt eliminated the need to cover their tracks, so they retreated straight into the refuge provided by the forest, and waited. It was only then Addi realised she had forgotten to grab their weapons in her haste.

She expected the vehicle to pass by on a quick sweep, then continue down the river. Instead, it came to a stop not far from their supplies and the rider dismounted. The amphibian-like person walked unassumingly forward, bulbous eyes fixed on a monitor in their hands.

 _Seriously? Our luck_ cannot _be this bad_ , Addi thought disbelievingly as they were forced to back away indefinitely as the stranger moved innocently towards them.

After a ridiculous sixty feet of this, the alien even following their evasive and curved paths, there were more footsteps off to their side. Another person with a monitor was heading their way. Addi stopped breathing as herself and her friends crouched in the middle of some large bushes and waited for the beings to pass them by. Through the leaves, she saw them gesture to a sick-looking tree and compare monitors. Mabel released a breath and Stanford relaxed.

_Environmentalists. No threat. Unless you hurt their trees._

She jerked her head towards an outcrop of boulders a reasonable distance from where the scientists were working. Quickly and quietly, the three of them left the site of interest.

“That _never_ happens to us!” Mabel said happily to Ford. “It always turns out to be bounty hunters, or space police, or some other person you’ve upset.”

“ _I’ve_ upset? Allow me to remind you of a certain gambler who destroyed half a market square not a week ago,” Ford responded in mock offense.

“Ooh, shiny.” Mabel noticed, deftly changing the subject to look under the gap between a boulder and the ground. “I think I can – ACK!” She suddenly disappeared from view.

“MABEL!” Both adults yelled. Stanford leaped to where she had been sliding into the gap, and he too disappeared.

Knowing it probably was not a good idea, but going ahead with it anyway, Addi grabbed a sharp rock and followed. There was a near invisible hole under the boulder with a small, glittering white crystal on its other side. Bracing herself, she dropped into the darkness.

It was like a slide. A really rough, nearly vertical slide. Amid the tumbling of rocks, she heard shouting coming from below her and prayed the others were okay. She hit the floor of a cavern with a jolt, but managed to stay on her feet, and spun around with the rock raised, searching for some sort of cave-dwelling monstrosity. Instead, she saw Stanford and Mabel both gazing around in ecstasy, spouting off half to each other and half to themselves about the wonders surrounding them.

The wonders in question were many, many, larger versions of the crystal marking the entrance to the hole. The entire place was filled with stars. Addi dropped the rock.

“Addi, Addi look! It’s so pretty, it’s like magic! Is it magic? It could be magic! What if there’s _fairies_ down here? -”

“Adeline, the luminous properties of these crystals is amazing! It appears they can absorb and store energy almost _perfectly_ , and only release a small amount as light, creating this wonderful glimmer!-”

“-fairies use them for building houses! Or maybe there’s an underground society of dwarfs that come and mine this place! Or even-”

“-significant usefulness as batteries or even devices of their own! Do you think we could fashion some sort of communicator out of them? Maybe-”

“-dragon treasure! I could probably make a bracelet out of these-”

“”-look, even as we’re speaking they’re growing brighter from the kinetic energy produced by sound vibrations!”

“I need some!”

“I must take a sample!”

“So, I guess you two haven’t encountered endo-ergon quartz before?” queried Addi, amused at their excitement.

“You have?” replied Ford, carefully unearthing some and placing them in a pocket.

“A few times. I’ve never seen a deposit of this size before. You are right, they make good batteries. I use them when I can to power things like Big Bertha, my transmitter, my portal beacon . . .”

 _Which reminds me, I should set that up,_ Addi remembered. She grabbed a couple of crystals for herself.

“Wow, they’re pretty handy.” Called Mabel, collecting some of the smaller ones. “This cave is full of naturally-occurring nerdy things! Except these rocks are actually beautiful _and_ useful, which is completely different to Dipper’s collection at home. I think he has some gravel in there.” She mused.

There was an exit at the back of the cavern which returned them to the forest. Once they were in the open Mabel turned to Addi.

“Grauntie Addi, I’m going to make you a friendship bracelet. And you Grunkle Ford. And one for me too,” With that decision, she began to run back up the incline to where the rock pile was situated.

“Grauntie?” Ford said in surprise.

“Yes. I’m very proud,”

“I guess that decides it,” said Ford absentmindedly.

“Decides what?”

“Oh, er, I was going to ask whether you wanted to stay with us.” He said, a bit awkwardly. “I mean, you’ve saved our lives so many times already, and you are extremely capable, and amazing at, well, everything. I honestly cannot thank you enough.” He drew in a breath. “I know that I’m asking a lot, for you to keep helping us, so hopefully we’ll be able to return the favour at some point.”

Addi opened her mouth to deny the notion that she expected anything in return, to say that it had been her privilege to meet them, and get to know them, and spend time with them. However, Ford didn’t seem to be done.

“Mabel clearly loves you and wants you to come with us. I have to say, it would be greatly beneficial for her to have someone other than myself to care for her, especially someone who actually seems to know what they’re doing with kids.” He gave a quick, but nervous, grin at that. “I, myself, value your company exceedingly, and I would . . . greatly appreciate it if you decide to remain.”

 _Are you kidding?_ She wanted to scream. _Of course!_ She figured that would be fairly alarming however. A shout of joy was all she wanted to do, though, because she could feel a swell of emotions about to explode from her like a volcano of happiness. He couldn’t know how much what he had said meant to her. He hadn’t even known her in his dimension! At home she had always thought of herself as good, but nowhere near as brilliant as her two friends. Yet here she was, and Stanford was telling her that _she_ was the capable one, was nervously asking her to stay with him as though there was any other option she had considered, and above all was completely _trusting_ her with the life of the wonderful child he had in his care when only a week ago he had seen her as his enemy.

“So . . . will you stay?”

The volcano erupted.

Completely impulsively, but without any regrets, she stepped forward and kissed him, entwining their fingers as she did. After a moment of uncertainty, she was relieved to find him kissing her back.

⃝

Whatever Mabel had expected was the reason Addi and Ford were taking so long, seeing them making out in a clearing full of light was not it. The first thing she did was react appropriately.

“MATCH MADE!” she screamed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Addiford is HHEEEEERREEEE! 
> 
> I followed a bit of a Shakespearean-style symbolism in this one, with forests meaning safety and healing and all (*Flashbacks to Yr 11 As You Like It essays*). The second forest, where the fun happens, is inspired by my own Aussie home, but with a pink sky, because why not? I needed a fun, comforting setting, and this happened.
> 
> The first two flashbacks Ford gets from the portal are from the canon episode The Last Mabelcorn, and By The Skin of Your Teeth (an amazing fanfic by apathetic_revenant, go read it)
> 
> Park ranger aliens!


	7. Suspiciously Auspicious

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alrighty, lets do this. I feel a bit insecure about this chapter, so I hope you peeps like it.
> 
> I'm on holiday in New South Wales at the moment, with my extremely outgoing and energetic family, so the moments I have to write this thing aren't as frequent as I'd like. Still, this place is pretty cool.

Another item flew over Addi’s shoulder, making a crunch as it landed in the leaves near the riverbank.

“Should we be worried?” Mabel asked Ford as they watched her rummage around in her bag. When the environmentalists had left, the three of them had returned to their default campsite, and Addi had unveiled the sheer amount of technology she possessed. Most of it was impatiently strewn around them.

“No, most of this is useless. I’ve been meaning to clean out.” Addi said in a muffled voice. “If you just put it in this, we can sell it to someone the next time we come to a market.” She tossed back a small sack.

Ford picked up a transmitter. “This could be useful,”

“It only contacts the resistance,”

“Into the bag it goes!” Mabel decided, snatching it from him and throwing it in with enough force that it shattered. No one objected.

Most of the other objects were to do with the resistance as well, and Ford did not blame Addi for the vehemence of her search. Years worth of things piled up in the sell-bag.

“What about these?” he asked curiously.

Addi spared a quick glance at the white, pebble-like things in his hand. “Locators. Hopefully I won’t be giving any more of them out. They go with – _this!_ ” She pulled one last piece out of her bag.

It was a stick. A thick, rectangular, grey, metal stick, which split into three thinner metal sticks and formed a tripod when set up properly. Addi took out her own usual transmitter and opened it up to replace the cracked endo-ergon crystal inside. Then she plugged it into the top of the tripod, and a blue light began to pulse slowly from it. All in all, Ford had seen more impressive things.

His opinion changed when she told him what it was.

“It’s a portal beacon,”

Ford was sure he had not heard correctly, and his disbelief must have shown on his face. “A _what?_ ”

Addi laughed. “It’s not really as convenient as it sounds, unfortunately. It homes in on those locators, if they’re turned on. I’ve given a couple out to some former resisters over the years, so I’ve always got a place to go if I need to lie low. It needs about ten hours to charge up, but hopefully a portal will open up tomorrow and take us somewhere safe.” Pleased, she looked over at them.

Mabel and Ford were sitting in stunned silence.

“How the _heck_ do you have so much cool tech?” burst out Mabel. She turned to Ford. “And how come we don’t?”

“I actually picked a lot of stuff up in a dimension that was in a permanent state of exponential technological advancement.” Addi answered. “People gave me spare parts out of charity because they considered me too helpless and primitive to fend for myself. That experience was humbling, but also,” she made a face, “very, _very_ annoying. Stupidest place ever.”

“So you can actually _navigate_ the multiverse?” clarified Ford.

“Well . . . kind of. It’s not perfect by any means. I put most of it together myself,” Addi admitted.

“That is absolutely amazing,” he said, while staring at her, faintly mesmerised. _She_ was absolutely amazing.

Addi went pink, but smiled happily.

“Awww, you guys are _so cute!_ ” Mabel said, pressing her palms to her cheeks and grinning as wide as she could.

“Are you going to do something _every_ time Addi and I . . . are affectionate towards each other?” Ford asked his niece wearily.

“I’m sorry Grunkle Ford, but yes,” Mabel said joyfully.

⃝

The sunset was turning the pink sky a blood red colour, darkening to maroon. At Mabel’s insistence, Ford left her cooking the food over their fire, and went to sit beside Addi, who was checking over beacon.

“Hi.” she greeted. “I heard you were ordered to come over here and ‘cuddle’, was it?”

“Well, yes, but-”

“Can’t disobey orders, Stanford,”

“Um, okay then,” He awkwardly placed an arm around her shoulders. _How have I forgotten how to hug?_ Thankfully, Addi didn’t seem to mind the hesitation, and she leaned them both backwards until they were lying and staring up at the emerging stars, then shuffled closer so her head was lying on his collarbone. _Okay, okay, this is nice, just be normal._

“I would say we should search for constellations, but this isn’t Earth, and I don’t know any,”

“Well, there’s a sort of squashed pentagon over there,” Ford volunteered, pointing with his free arm.

“That can be the Broken Home. Y’know, it actually looks kind of similar to this one cluster right above your house,”

“Really?”

“Mmhm. If you go up on the roof near the attic window, and you look straight up, there’s a whoooole bunch of messy shapes between the trees,”

“I can see you are an expert stargazer,”

She laughed at that, and he felt a bit more comfortable. “It was nice spending time up there,” she said, and there was a wistful tinge to her words, “but the company’s better here,” she finished warmly, and kissed him again. Fortunately, his mind did not temporarily short-circuit this time. In fact, he was finding he seriously enjoyed it when she did that, and he was already certain that he did not want these occurrences to stop.

“Food’s up!” called Mabel. “If you’re done with _each other_ , that is. HEY-OH!”

 _She’ll stop doing that_ , Ford thought as they broke apart and went back to the fire. _She’s just excited because it’s new. She’ll stop tomorrow. Probably._

He was wrong, as it turned out. She stopped within the hour.

The sky had fully darkened to a deep maroon, and Mabel had started to go very quiet as he and Addi took out the blankets. The silence now becoming deafening to him, he crouched in front of where she was sitting and asked what the matter was.

“I - I don’t want to go to sleep.” she said hesitantly. “Can I keep watch? It’s just . . . I had nightmares last time.” The admission finished in a mumble.

Ford felt a rush of understanding. He should have expected that the many events of the day would not be enough to permanently distract his niece from the trauma of yesterday. Now that things were beginning to die down, it should have been a given that she was thinking about it all over again.

“I don’t think a watch is necessary tonight. The most we’ll have to worry about is some disgruntled scientists.” Addi said kindly. “We’re safe here.”

Mabel did not look convinced. _How many times have I told her that, and we turned out not to be?_ Ford wondered sadly. _The last was at the resistance base._

“Would another family hug pile help?” he tried. Mabel was a very tactile person, so he was certain it would, but she all she responded with was a discouraging shift in position.

“I know that it’s hard,” he said softly, “but you will get through this. Believe me when I say that there is _nothing_ capable of taking down your spirit, Mabel.”

She seemed to untense slightly, and gave a ghost of a smile. “But what if I have another nightmare?”

“Then we’ll be here for you.” Addi answered simply. “Right here.”

Mabel moved into the woman’s waiting embrace, and Ford joined soon after, draping a blanket over all three of them.

“The stars are nice,” Mabel said quietly, and Ford was glad to hear her voice slurring.

“Mhm. I named those squished ones over there the Broken Home,” Addi smiled.

When there was no answer, Ford thought Mabel was already dreaming, but the sleepy reply did gradually make its appearance.

“Looks like it’s bein’ fixed to me,”

⃝

Addi was awoken – for good this time – the next morning by faint sounds coming from the portal beacon. Mabel had only woken up twice during the night, and both she and Ford had been readily available.

Slowly, Addi disentangled herself from her friends. They both groaned and burrowed deeper into the blankets at the removal of warmth. Mabel turned away from the suddenly chilly morning to face her uncle, who brought her closer to himself more out of a desire to combat the cold than anything else. It was cute, regardless. Looking down at the little family, she had no idea how she’d gotten so lucky so quickly.

 _Thooomp, thooomp,_ went the portal beacon. She checked it, and was happy to see that it was fully charged. A portal would be on its way to opening, then.

Time to see an old friend. Hopefully one who also wanted to see her.

⃝

_. . . Bill Cipher was close behind her, but she wasn’t scared for herself; she just needed a little more time, and then Ford would be home, gone through the portal . . ._

_. . . she was playing with Shifty, and he was morphing into a new shape – a little boy with blonde hair and six fingers . . ._

_. . . another boy, with Mabel’s face, was excitedly brandishing a_ DD&D _character sheet at her, while behind him a man with Ford’s face rolled his eyes . . ._

“Marks? Marks!”

Addi’s feet thudded into the black ground, which looked something like solidified lava. The part she was standing on was rock, but all around her were brightly-coloured knee-high plants, sprouting a number of fruit and flowers each.

“You made it! Addi, you actually made it! I can’t believe it!” A strong hug tackled her, and she managed not to flip whoever it was to ground. _This is a nice hug. Not an attack-you hug._

When the person pulled back, she found herself staring into a brown-skinned, long-haired, familiar human face.

“It’s been, what, three years?” asked Julian.

Adeline could do nothing but gape at him. She grabbed his arms, half-returning the hug to make sure he was real. A flood of outrage and delight filled her up.

“I thought you were dead!” she half-yelled, half-laughed eventually.

“What? Why?”

“Because those killer mushrooms were everywhere!”

“But I sent you an invitation, didn’t I?”

“No! What invitation?”

“To this!” Julian gestured backwards. A crowd of people, most of them Julian’s large extended family, were staring at them in mingled horror and fascination. They were gathered around a priest dressed in white, who was holding a squirming baby over a basin of water. “We just baptised my son!”

“You had a _baby_?” But Julian’s eyes had moved over to Addi’s uncertain companions.

“ _You_ have a kid _too_?”

Not bothering, or wanting, to correct him, Addi pushed away as Julian simultaneously did the same to her, and they both went to greet each other’s respective families. Starting, of course, with the kids.

⃝

Ford was not sure how to react when Addi’s friend practically dived at Mabel, picked her up, and swung her around. Did he draw his gun and start shooting? Did he ignore the display and follow Addi? Did he join in and dance madly with the man? He opted to just stand there and attempt to figure out what the hell was happening.

Laughing uproariously, and confusedly in Mabel’s case, the man finally set her down. “What’s your name?”

“I’m Mabel. Mabel Pines,” she matched him smile for smile.

“How old are you?”

“Twelve,”

“And how long have you been Addi’s kid?”

“Um . . . a few days?” Mabel looked happy at being referred to in that manner, although bewilderment was still present in her expression.

Noticing this, and also Ford’s stiff form, the man quickly introduced himself. “Forgive me, I get overexcited sometimes. I’m Julian, a friend of Adeline’s. I’m thirty, my son was born six months ago, and I’m recently married,” Mabel giggled at his euphoria.

Addi’s voice floated over the amiable chatter of the crowd. “You _married_ _Clive_?” Ford saw that she had appropriated the baby from the priest.

“Finally, right?” a man who was presumably Clive answered.

Julian was shaking Ford’s hand, and waiting for an introduction.

“Stanford Pines,” he said quickly.

Julian nodded thoughtfully. “I’ve heard Addi talk about you. In mixed tones,” he added, but more out of honesty than hostility. “Come on, let’s go celebrate!”

⃝

Julian’s house was made of rich brown wood, in a toroidal shape around a stone central pavilion. It was so large that everyone who was at the baptism could have a guest room. Furthermore, the whole area stood at the base of a volcano. Clive, who seemed to have a slightly more level head on his shoulders despite his insistence on only wearing the brightest clothes possible, assured Ford that it was inactive.

Julian introduced him and Mabel to his entire family. Either days on this planet were shorter than usual, or this dimension was out of sync time-wise with the previous one, but by the time they were done the sun was setting in a normal blue sky.

Darkness fell quickly, and all the guests were enjoying themselves, languishing on couches and deckchairs in the pavilion. Mabel found several other children approximately her age to play with, and they were running around engrossed in a game.

Julian sat Ford down at his bar, where Clive was making Addi a drink.

“Want one Stanford?” he asked.

“I don’t usually-”

“Ford, it’s okay.” Addi reassured him, looking into his eyes earnestly. “I promise you, you don’t have to worry here. We can afford to unwind for one night, and besides, Clive’s drinks are to die for.”

“. . . alright, I’ll try one,” Ford agreed reluctantly. One would be fine, maybe two, if it was good. He did not like to let down his guard too much, ever, but if Addi knew these people, and they were no longer resistance, then it would most likely be fine. Besides, he could already tell that this place was safe. In addition to Julian’s trustworthiness, the tour he had taken Ford on had revealed a substantial security system and at least one armoury.

“Where’s my baby?” Clive asked Julian as he whipped together ingredients so fast they blurred.

“With your sister. They’re lighting the lamps,” Julian nodded to where a woman was patrolling the perimeter of the pavilion, bouncing the child gently as she turned on gas lights. Ford’s eyes drifted across the entire scene. It was filled with (admittedly tipsy) laughter and conversation, but most prominently it was completely relaxed. Every person here trusted everyone else. The only negativity had come in with him.

Which is why he downed the drink in one as soon as Clive gave it to him. On a whim, he chose to completely trust these people. He regretted it. The drink, that is.

Addi almost spat out her own drink laughing at him. He should have noticed she was sipping it. Julian and Clive made no attempts to hide their own amusement as Ford choked and coughed, trying to reopen his windpipe and stop the godawful burning all the way down his oesophagus. _Shit._ Clive did _not_ mess around with his alcohol.

“Oh dear, looks like the little man’s crying.” said Julian. Ford glared. “No not you.” he added impatiently, and hurried over to his sister-in-law and upset son.

“Must be getting tired,” Clive informed the other two, “we’ll go and put him to bed. Be right back,”

He opened one of the many doors that ringed the pavilion and led his husband and child into the hallway beyond. Before the door shut again, Ford and Addi heard Julian say, “We should have another one,”

“God no,” was the reply, “I love you guys, but one was painful enough.”

Addi made a very good, and sincere, replica of Mabel’s reaction to public displays of affection. Ford smiled, but then felt another unwanted pang of concern. He stood up and moved to another space on the outskirts so he could see Mabel more clearly. The group of kids was now sitting on the ground, playing Duck, Duck, Goose.

“She’s fine Ford,” Addi said, now leaning against the wall with a faint smile, “and she’s going to continue to be fine. I’ll make sure of it.” She rested a hand on his arm comfortingly.

Ford nodded, and made an effort to relax again. “Alright. I know this is a good place, and that these are good people, and I doubt anyone is coming after us _right this second_ ,” he reassured himself.

“Well, anyone other than the usual mix of demons, police officers, governments, criminals, and resistances,” Addi amended dryly. For some reason, this too helped assuage his fears. He laughed.

It might have been the genuinely pleasant atmosphere of the place, or (very likely) whatever Clive’s drink was doing to him, or the fact that he had not had spent much time with Addi all day, but for whatever reason he was suddenly compelled to do something reckless: he wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her intensely. To his relief, she did not object.

The feeling of her fingers running through his hair was electric, and the world felt like it was dissolving around him when she refused to pause like they had before. He traced a hand up her back, gently stroking a scar whenever he came to one, and he guessed she enjoyed that because she kissed him breathless and somehow pressed even closer to him than before. He was light-headed with happiness, and probably alcohol, and . . . and to his utter embarrassment he had forgotten they were still relatively in public.

He felt Addi smiling uncontrollably as she pulled him through the nearest doorway.

⃝

Early morning grey light filtered around the edges of the door to outside, waking Ford up. He found he had a slight headache as he eased himself out from under the covers, but hopefully that would soon fade.

_Let’s see . . ._

He had gone to check on Mabel at some point, and she had not even noticed that they had disappeared. Apparently she had been too busy playing. He was not sure why he had not put her to bed then. Hopefully she had gone to sleep at a reasonable hour.

“I’m going to check on Mabel,” he said quietly, giving Addi a kiss on the cheek before searching for his boots. A huff of laughter escaped her.

“Again? She’s going to start wondering what all the fuss is about,”

“What do you mean?” Ford asked, struggling with a sock.

“Well, I’ve been to see her three times, and I heard you get up at least double that last night,”

 _Weren’t we supposed to be having a night off from worry?_ “I don’t remember any of that!” Ford said indignantly.

Addi snorted and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like “lightweight” as he took his coat and left the room.

Julian was eating cereal at the bar, and waved at him as he approached. He was grinning mischievously.

“Have fun last night?” Clearly enjoying Ford’s discomfort, he continued without waiting for an answer. “You must have. Unbelievable as it seems, I guess there _are_ more interesting things to do than talk to me. We came back out and you guys were gone! I _wonder_ what you were doing,” he sniggered.

Stubbornly not reacting, Ford asked where his niece was.

“You put her to bed a few hours ago. That room over there,”

A few more memories trickled back as he walked across the pavilion. Now that he thought about it, Mabel’s expression had appeared carefully neutral when saying that she had not been aware of his and Addi’s absence.

Another memory nudged at him, quietly, as if not wanting to be noticed. He had gone back to their room and curled up with Addi again. There had been something he wanted to say to her, just three small words that felt enormous, but she had kissed them from his lips before he could complete them. Probably for the best. He had obviously still been feeling the aftereffects of Clive’s culinary creativity. Then again, Mabel had started saying she loved him barely a _day_ after knowing him. Maybe it was different for adults.

He knocked softly on Mabel’s door and entered. She was sleeping peacefully in her bed at the opposite end of the room, but woke up immediately when the light from the doorway fell on her.

“Just me,” Ford reassured her quickly.

“Oh, right. This is _definitely_ a surprise.” Her light tone did nothing to erase the fact that her hand had automatically and unmistakeably reached for a weapon. “I’m okay, nothing bad’s happened, and playing games was fun.” She had clearly gotten into the rhythm of the questions he asked.

“Good, good.” He knelt beside the bed, not quite sure what else he was here for. “Did you sleep okay?”

The instant he asked, his mouth went dry. _No, of course she didn’t, she hasn’t been_ able _to since the resistance._ What had he been thinking? He should have been here for her, she was supposed to be his utmost priority at all times, and he had just . . . _forgotten_ about her. The slight tension in her nod made him disgusted with himself.

He did not think his thoughts had shown on his face, but Mabel sometimes appeared to be psychic in the way she could read people so thoroughly.  

“No, no, I’m fine!” she conciliated hurriedly. “Nothing I couldn’t handle. Buuuuut,” she sighed, “today’s my birthday.”

“It is?”

“I think so.” There was a wan smile on her face now. “I wonder what Dipper’s doing.”

“Probably sleeping, if it’s as early over there as it is here,” The joke had come out of nowhere, and one thing was for certain: his niece was _not_ going to be sad on her birthday.

“Thirteen years old! That’s a milestone to remember,” Mabel’s smile became more alive with every word. “I guess I should up your education standards, now that you should be in eighth grade,” That elicited a groan and an eyeroll. “You’re fitting into your role as a teenager well.”

Finally, a laugh. He gave her shoulder a quick squeeze and said, “I suppose you’ll be wanting your present then,”

“You got me a present? But you didn’t even know when my birthday _was_!”

“Well it had to happen sooner or later, didn’t it? Wait here,”

He darted over to Addi’s room, and more specifically her bag of full of technology. There must be _something_ in there she would like. As he rummaged around under the confused gaze of its owner, he found the perfect thing.

How often had Mabel griped about losing her grappling hook?

⃝

Well. Her uncle seemed even more excited about today than her, which wasn’t that hard, to be honest. Dipper would be waking up soon, probably to presents from Stan, Wendy, and Soos. Or at least, that’s what she hoped. She had no idea what the aftermath of the portal incident had been like on their end. Maybe they were all too busy working to fix it to celebrate, or maybe Dipper wasn’t even in Gravity Falls anymore. What had he and Stan told their parents? Had they told them anything? Dipper and herself were supposed to be going home soon. How were they handling that?

Was she ever going to get home? Was her twelfth the last birthday she got to spend with her brother?

Ford’s return banished her thoughts. “Here! It’s also from Addi.” He dropped a sleek black gun into her lap. She could feel the reluctance rising in her stomach, but she also didn’t want to seem ungrateful. The last thing she wanted was another way to hurt people.

“You cock it like this.” Ford demonstrated pulling back the barrel casing until it clicked. When he released it, it snapped forwards and four quarters of the case separated and came back together in a blur almost too quick to process. They formed a disc in front of the barrel. “Then you just pull the trigger,”

Realisation dawned on her. “Wait . . . is this . . .” Ford grinned and nodded, “an old-fashioned listening device?!”

The nods changed to shakes. “What? No, it’s a futuristic grappling hook,”

“No way! That’s even better!”

“Much better!”

“We need to test it!”

“Indeed we do!”

Mabel was out of her bed and into her clothes in seconds. As she thrust her free hand into her uncle’s and charged for the door, something fell out of the man’s pocket. They both looked down at the small white pebble lying with far more presence than expected on the floor.

“A locator,” Ford said in surprise.

“You must’ve accidentally kept one of Addi’s instead of putting it in the sell-bag,” Mabel suggested.

“Yes . . .” Ford frowned at it uneasily. “I must have . . .”

Mabel tugged on his hand. Seeing her eagerness to go, Ford reinstated the smile on his face, and she could see him pushing whatever negative thoughts he was having away for her sake.

“There’s an old rockslide site near the volcano that Clive pointed out to me. I think that will be a good testing ground,” he informed her.

“Sounds good to me! Rockslide, volcano, grappling hook. _Very_ auspicious!”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DUN DUN DUUUUUNN
> 
> Mabel has so many questions and I will answer approximately zero of them.
> 
> I must have a minimum of one (1) swear word per chapter.
> 
> Julian and Clive were spontaneously created to celebrate my country *finally* legalising same-sex marriage. AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE!! I really like these guys, I might write my own thing for them one day.
> 
> I have feelings about Mabel NEEDING to be a kid sometimes in the Adrift AU, which is why she went and played with kids as though they were 7 or 8 yrs old rather than 12. Its also why I have Ford and Addi playing with Mabel throughout this fic.
> 
> I'd guess that after decades of basically being on their own and having themselves to rely on, Addi and Ford would have some commitment phobias, especially towards adults like each other.


	8. A Resistance of Butt-Faces

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah so, getting to the end of this. I think the next chapter's going to be longer than usual, and also the last one. It's been a ride, guys!
> 
> Edit: There's gonna be TWO more chapters after this, not one. It just works better that way :)

Adeline shook her head. _Well, that was the best last-minute gift idea I’ve ever seen someone think of,_ she thought. Ford was so lucky she had an unreasonable amount of technology.

She decided to go see the results, the idea of watching Mabel’s face light up like Christmas enough of an incentive to get her out of bed. As she reached the girl’s room, however, both she and her uncle barged out excitedly and crashed into her. Barely pausing for long enough to give her a kiss, Ford’s words trailed behind him as they rushed past: “Backsoongonetotestgunout!”

Mabel gave her an equally quick, but bone-crushing, hug, and said, “Thanksomuchloveyou!” and then they were gone.

_I guess it went well._

The door of the room that had just been so exuberantly vacated swung a little in the breeze. Addi glanced inside briefly, and then did a double take.

There was a locator lying on the floor. That was strange. Mabel or Ford must have accidentally pocketed one of hers . . . except that she had checked the sell-bag, and everything had been accounted for.

The locator wasn’t hers, and it had been in Mabel’s room. That was concerning. She had given Julian a locator when she met him, recognising that she might need his help in the future. So, it must be his then . . . but he wouldn’t leave something like this lying around in an infrequently-used guest room.

Locators were rare. Extremely rare. They came as a set with portal beacons. Portal beacons had only been invented in one dimension, where she had fixed up a fairly broken down one that no one else had needed. Otherwise, they were not given away lightly. She knew of hardly anyone who had visited that dimension . . . apart from the resisters she had been temporarily stranded there with.

She squatted down to pick up the piece. As she rose, she turned it over to examine the curved edge. Her stomach dropped as she saw the frequency number of the beacon it was tuned to: not hers. Not good.

Addi remembered being stuck on a planet overridden by technology with a friend. She remembered patching up a broken portal beacon, and laughing as her friend somehow acquired a fully functional one. Years later, she had told her friend about Stanford Pines, a genius who could do anything if he put his mind to it. Her friend had been intrigued, and had commented on how much of a valuable asset he would be. She remembered Ford being holed up in a briefing room with her friend for almost an entire day, where, hypothetically, a tracking device could have been planted on him at any time.

The device slipped through Addi’s fingers, making a _crack_ on collision with the wooden surface and bringing her back to the present.

There was an active locator lying on the floor. That was alarming. It belonged Wesley. That was . . . great. Just great.

She sprinted towards her sword.

⃝

The rockslide was the most pleasant-looking disaster area Mabel had ever seen. It was towards the base of the volcano, where the ground just began to slope upwards, and all the sharp edges of broken boulders were softened by the leafy plants slowly but surely overwhelming them. As Mabel and Ford approached, the rocks started small – coming up to her uncle’s knees in height – and slowly increased until it was as if they were wandering through a canyon, and the wide sweeping fields around Julian’s house, as well as the volcano itself, were blocked from view by the monoliths.

“Mabel, I am sorry.” Ford said suddenly. She looked up at him, and they paused on top of a wide platform. “I should have been there for you last night.”

Mabel laughed, trying to brush off his seriousness. “Grunkle Ford, you worry too much. It wasn’t that bad, I was just a bit homesick this morning,”

_Whoops. Well that did nothing._ She could see his guilt resurfacing like a whale, it was so obvious.

“Okay mister, you need to hug it out.” she said decisively, opening her arms and advancing threateningly. “Stop feeling bad, and sad, and mad at yourself! And other things rhyming with ‘ad’!” She hugged him aggressively. “You have _romance_ to deal with now, which is a _good_ thing, so don’t go ignoring Addi for dumb, unnecessary reasons like me _maybe_ having the _occasional_ nightmare. You’re not dumb, Grunkle Ford! Don’t push away something good!”

“Well I don’t want to ignore you either, Mabel.” he replied in a muffled voice, his face buried in her hair. “A relationship is no excuse to place less importance on you. You come first. Always.”

Those words warmed Mabel from her heart all the way to her fingertips, firmly driving back any dark, lonely thoughts lightly prodding at her. “Thanks . . . but, like, don’t let the last few days fool you. I _can_ handle myself, mostly. You don’t have to worry _all_ the time. If I need you, I’ll come get you,” she reassured him.

“Promise?”

“Promise,”

Their moment was interrupted by the sound of a portal opening nearby.

“What the-” frowned Ford. A blue glow permeated the space behind a giant, jagged pillar ahead of them.

“I wonder if anyone came through,” said Mabel. She rounded the corner and moved towards it, Ford following more warily. “Huh, I guess not.” The portal flashed out of existence, leaving no one behind. “Well anyway, is here a good spot – AAAH!”

A person suddenly sprang from a crack in the rocks, stretching like an elastic band and squeezing out of the impossibly tight space. Other stealthily disguised figures revealed themselves all around them, some shifting colours like chameleons, some shifting _shapes_ like, oh no, the shapeshifter back home, one even straight up flickering out of invisibility. It would have been awesome, if there hadn’t been weapons pointing at them from all directions.

Ford pulled her roughly back against his chest, drawing his own gun and spinning around. They were completely surrounded.

One enemy spoke into a transmitter, saying something she couldn’t understand. Ford could though, and Mabel heard him draw in a quick breath at the garbled response. After that there was a tense silence.

It was getting a bit awkward now, to be honest.

“Do you want something?” Ford snapped angrily.

“We’re waiting,” someone responded. She was purple, with antennae, and had multifaceted red eyes.

“For what?”

“To regroup.” Anticipating Ford’s next interrogation, she continued. “We don’t have orders to hurt you, Stanford Pines. As long as you don’t try to escape, you’re not a prisoner.”

“This reasoning is very questionable,” Mabel muttered.

The alien looked at her blearily, then addressed Ford again. “Honestly, I’d rather be in bed, I got about two hours sleep, but you know resistances. Workers on-call, and all that. And the boss didn’t say anything about a kid, so I’ll let her go if you want. We don’t need her. Anyway, you’re coming back with us, and welcome to your new job, I guess,”

Mabel’s mouth dropped open. _Are you kidding?!_ she thought. _No WAY are we going back to that place! And what the heck, hasn’t anyone figured it out yet?_ She narrowed her eyes. _I am NEVER letting_ anyone _take my grunkle away from me._ With those words echoing around her head and building to a crescendo, a hard lump of a resolution formed in Mabel’s stomach, and an idea of her own particular brand came into being.

“Your resistance is filled with butt-faces!” she blurted out fiercely, dimly thinking that the words didn’t do her feelings justice.

“Sure, whatever, kid,”

A wicked grin appeared on Mabel’s face. Oh, these jerks were _so_ gonna pay.

“In two seconds you’re gonna wish you hadn’t underestimated me,” she promised.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. GRAPPLING HOOK!” she whipped the gun out from under her coat and aimed it at the top of the rock face behind the conversationalist. She hoped Ford’s arm was locked around her tight enough.

With her usual pin-point accuracy (that had never failed her no matter what Dipper said, don’t listen to him), she pulled the trigger, and the disc that had formed on the end of the gun when her uncle had originally cocked it made a clunking sound as it flew towards her mark, biting into the stone. The only problem was, no cord was attached to it.

Great. She’d just jettisoned a useless grappling hook _and_ her only weapon.

“Um,” she said into the surprised quietness. She pulled the trigger again, just to make absolutely sure their situation was as dire as it seemed. The surprised quietness became even more surprised when an immense attractive force nearly ripped the gun out of her hands as it shot to its other half. Fortunately, she had an iron grip, and so did Ford.

Her uncle torqued around just as their feet left the ground, which probably saved Mabel from breaking her elbows and knees as they collided with the top of the pillar. As it was, all that happened was Ford getting winded.

“Haha! Yes!” crowed Mabel as they hauled themselves over the top and rolled over just as the resisters below came to their senses and starting firing. No shots were able hit them from this angle.

Ford sucked in a breath and clapped her on the back. “Nicely done,” he coughed, getting to his feet, “but do you think you could do it with a little more control next time?”

“Psssh, whatchoo you talking about? I did that _perfectly_ ,”

“Nothing is perfect, you can always do better,” Ford said immediately, then backtracked. “I mean, good, yes, but let’s see if we can get even _more_ perfect. In fact, let’s do it now. We need to get back to Julian’s,”

“Why?” asked Mabel.

“They’re going after Addi,”

Mabel cocked the gun.

⃝

Thankfully, all the guests had left. This meant there was nothing stopping Julian from, say, backflipping off the bar and taking down two resisters at once with a glass bottle in each hand, or Clive from slamming into one who had been about to enter his son’s room so hard that he flew halfway across the pavilion holy shit. They had _not_ gone soft in their retirement.

Addi thought that at this rate the fight would be over in under a minute. She really had expected more from Wesley – not that she was complaining.

Then Stanford and Mabel swung in on a grappling hook, bringing seven more assassins with them.

Adeline grabbed Ford’s sleeve and dragged both her companions behind an overturned table as a barrage of laser fire hit the metal on the other side.

“Wesley’s been tracking you!” she said to him.

“I figured!”

“I don’t think he likes you knowing his secrets!” said Mabel.

“Understatement,” snarled a soldier as she adjusted the intensity of her weapon and melted a hole straight through the table.

Addi sprang up and over it, Big Bertha swinging strongly to intercept the assailant. The gun disappeared incredibly quick and a baton came up to meet her, the resulting clash almost jarring Addi’s arm. She looked past the locked blades into her opponent’s face.

“Netessa!”

“Hi,” grunted the red-eyed woman. Adeline forced her back a step and broke the lock.

“I thought you left a long time ago,”

Netessa shrugged. “I came back,”

“Oh, well that answers all my questions.” Addi said, rolling her eyes and attempting a grin. “Come on, what have you been up to?” She noticed that the rest of the taskforce was in a shoot-out with Julian and Clive, and off to the side Ford was attempting to get Mabel to stay behind the bar.

“Do you _really_ care? Anyway, I’m about to kill you. Why would I tell you?”

“So we could rekindle our friendship and you could help me instead?” Addi suggested hopefully.

As an answer, Netessa closed in impossibly fast and punched her.

⃝

Ford shot a man in the chest, grabbed his baton, and shoved him through a door.

“Take this and stay here,” he ordered Mabel, giving her the weapon.

“But-” she tried to argue.

“I said stay!” he turned to help Clive.

Heart in her mouth, she flinched as Julian was propelled into the front of the bar counter so hard it shook. He dodged several laser blasts before Clive tackled the shooter. Mabel heard Julian groan, then his hand appeared around the corner and he pulled himself to where he could see her.

“Mabel honey, could you please press that button? Yes that one right there, thank you,”

A sensation like a wave of static electricity passed over Mabel, the unfamiliarity fuelling the fear and uncertainty already coursing through her. Julian heaved himself up to his feet and went to rejoin the firefight . . . or what was now just a fight, actually. All the lasers had stopped working.

“Don’t worry honey, everyone’s going to be fine.” Julian smiled. Then he turned around. “ALRIGHT! TWO MINUTES WITHOUT GUNS! LET’S DO THIS!” he yelled, and decked an assassin. Now that Mabel could actually look at what was going on without being in danger of injury, she saw that there were only four of the original seven left. She kept her eyes on her friends and family. Addi was furiously battling sword-on-baton with the purple woman, and Clive and Ford were facing off barehanded against the other three. Julian wielded a broken glass bottle. Mabel wasn’t sure how long that would last against heavy-duty metal sticks, but okay.

She watched anxiously, wanting to help, but not knowing how to. Some of her dread was extinguished as Addi started calling out to her attacker between clashes. As always, when she was confident, she was fun. Best of all, it seemed to be getting on the other’s nerves.

⃝

“No really, what _have_ you been doing?”

Ford planted a kick into an assassin’s midsection.

“Ugh, would you give it a rest already? We were never really friends!”

He dodged a swipe from a baton.

“I still want to know!”

He slid under another swing on his knees, coming up behind the person and grabbing their arm.

“I’m into sculpture now, are you happy?”

The arm was twisted but the alien did not have bones that broke like a human’s would have, and Ford lost his grip.

“Happi _er_. How are the kids? WHOA!”

He kicked the person’s legs out before they could turn around.

“In high school – oof!”

Hoping that they had a windpipe, he pulled them into a headlock and crushed down on their throat.

“Doing okay?”

Julian was unconscious on the ground nearby, bleeding from a head wound, but it looked as though he had brought a shapeshifter down beforehand, so that was a win. Clive was being throttled against a wall. Ford would go there next.

“They hate it,”

The assassin’s struggles ceased. He dropped them and sprinted for Clive, pulling the next enemy around to face him and catching him off-guard with a swift right-hook. An uppercut took him out completely. Clive collapsed on the floor, retching.

“Fair enou-AUGH!”

Ford whipped around to the last fighting pair, and saw Addi stumbling from a blow to the head. She fell to her knees and the purple soldier knocked the sword out of her hand. She stomped on the hilt and a spark of electricity showed him that the portable E-field had just been broken. Then, the staticky feeling to the air vanished. Two minutes had passed.

Addi did not seem able to get up.

The assassin turned and looked him directly in the eyes.

“Weapons are up,” she said softly, drawing her gun, aiming at him, and flicking to stun setting, “and I win.”

Ford reached for his own gun, but the holster was empty. It had clattered out of his hand long ago. _Shitshitshit, she’s going to kill Addi once you’re out, think of something, think of something NOW-_

With a sickening plunging sound, the blade of a sword came through the left side of her chest. That species did not have any blood to lose, but it must have hurt regardless. She screamed and reached behind her to remove it, throwing it off to the side and glaring down at Adeline, whose reserves of strength were severely depleted after that throw.

The soldier hissed and shot her in a burst of light. Ford’s heart stopped, but the way she fell silently was obviously displeasing to the assassin.

“Goddamn stun setting,” she said murderously, flicking it off and re-aiming. In her pain she had forgotten him.

Ford slammed into her and drove her to the ground. They were both grappling for the gun, the only available weapon. Despite suffering severe bodily trauma, she was still among the best fighters Ford had ever encountered. Her red eyes burned hatefully into his as they trapped each other in a lock. An endurance test then. He poured all his strength into attempting to overpower her, favouring her injured side. She yelled through her teeth . . . then twisted, slid out of his grip, and flung an elbow into his solar plexus to wind him and knock him flat. She put the gun to his head, and did not seem to care that it was no longer on stun setting. In the split second before she fired, Ford thought –

\- he saw something move behind her.

A blur of black metal, a clang, a shudder that went through the assassin’s entire body, and she slumped over. Ford looked up into his niece’s wide grin.

“HA! Yeah! Take that you – you mean lady who Addi still likes for some reason!” Mabel dropped the baton she was holding and offered a hand to help him up.

“Well done!” he said, taking in deep breaths and pushing his multitude of aches and pains to the back of his mind.

“Is Addi okay?” Mabel asked worriedly as they knelt down beside her.

“She should be fine, she’s just stunned,” Ford reassured her, checking her breathing and pulse. Addi jerked up, grabbed his wrist, and was about to headbutt him when he said, “Whoa, Adeline, it’s me, you’re safe!”

“It’s all over, Addi,” Mabel said comfortingly.

Addi untensed and allowed them to hug her, still looking disorientated. “Ouch.” she said as she lifted a hand to her head. “Netessa was never into ‘going easy’,”

Ford gently removed the hand and examined where she had been hit.

“That was really quick, by the way,” Mabel observed. “I thought it would be like half an hour before you were up,”

“The more you get stunned, the more you start to resist.” she said nonchalantly. “It’s like my secret weapon now.”

“Cool,” grinned Mabel.

Ford winced. That had been one nasty blow. He held up a hand. “How many fingers do you see?”

“If you were anyone else, I’d think six was wrong.” Addi said warmly. Then she frowned. “I don’t think they should be blurry, though.”

“Most likely a concussion. We’ll find somewhere to rest,”

“Not here.” Addi said urgently. “We need to leave. Wesley’s still going to be looking for us. I charged the portal beacon yesterday, so we should stay ahead of him for now.”

A groan behind them. They looked to see Clive lifting Julian onto a miraculously undamaged couch.

“Clive, I’m so sorry,” began Addi, also trying to get to her feet. She wobbled precariously, and latched onto Ford.

“Addi, we know you wouldn’t have come if you thought you were being followed,” said Clive weakly, “so don’t beat yourself up about it.” Then with a bloody-toothed grin, he added, “If you need any help, let us know. We’d be happy to pay Wesley back.”

⃝

Ford knelt on the floor with Addi and helped her ready the portal beacon for reception.

“Okay guys,” They looked around at Mabel. She held out a faintly glowing something in each hand. “I have made these with love, friendship, and string!” she handed them over. “You will not use them for science experiments,” she glared at Ford, “or for technology,” she glared at Addi, “you will love them, you will treasure them, and they will act as lucky charms. Most importantly, they are impossible to separate from each other. I know this because I made them, so they have to do what I want.” she finished brightly.

“I don’t think that’s how lucky charms wor-” began Addi.

“Hush! Yes it is,”

Ford looked down at the item. Many small endo-ergon quartz crystals had been threaded through a ragged and dirty piece of string. Mabel had tied both ends of her own around her wrist.

She had managed to make the friendship bracelets.

“I don’t wanna lose you guys,” a very small voice said, so softly he was not sure Mabel had meant to say it aloud at all.

Addi carefully reached over and tied the ends for him. He did the same for her. Then he looked up in time to see some imperceptible lines of concern disappear from his niece’s face, lines which he had not even noticed were there until they were gone.

He turned slightly so he could take in both her face and Addi’s, who was staring at the bracelet with a small smile. _How the hell did I get so lucky?_ he thought, pulling them both close. Mabel refused to let go for a while, and Addi kissed both their foreheads. The stars on their hands shone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Netessa needs to start taking kids seriously. Or at least, one kid.  
> That enormous fight scene was so fun to write :) My thought process: Addi hasn't been injured yet. How do I injure Addi? By having a fight scene with swords and funny convos!


	9. Not What We Agreed On

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so the ending is a bit longer than I thought it would be. One more chapter after THIS one XD
> 
> The wee jokes are back.

“Always good to have you over,” Clive said dryly as the portal appeared.

“Sorry,” Addi winced again. She was very unsteady on her feet, and Ford was having to support her.

“Stop it. We’ll see you again, alright? You’re always welcome here.” He hugged her goodbye. “Actually, you’ll have to come back, Julian’s going to be so mad he missed you.”

“Well in that case of course I’ll be back,” Addi laughed.

“Nice to meet you, Stanford, Mabel,” Clive said, shaking Ford’s hand and waving to Mabel.

Mabel waved back, and stepped through the portal.

_. . . she was in the Stanleymobile with a man thirty years younger than he should have been, and they were heading to Oregon, where she was determined to fix everything . . ._

_. . . she was filled with rage at this stupid unicorn who had made her feel so small and ashamed, and without thinking she swung a punch . . ._

_. . . she was playing mini golf with Pacifica and Dipper, but they weren’t competing, they were just talking and enjoying each other’s presence . . ._

The view of a busy city street under a darkening sky swam into view, and Mabel stepped into a crowd of pedestrians. No one looked twice at the portal which had appeared in the wall of a café.

“Mabel, don’t _do_ that,” said Ford frantically as he and Addi came through after her.

“You need to _wait_ for us, honey,” Addi said, equally exasperated.

“Sorry.” Mabel said meekly. She remembered Ford trying to impress upon her on more than one occasion the dangers of feeling invincible or assuming she was safe – although personally she felt he was understating himself: she should be able to feel safe with the people who kept her safe, after all.

“Do you know where we are? Do you recognise anyone?” she directed at Addi eagerly, looking forward to meeting more of her friends.

Addi examined their surroundings as best she could. She’d said things still seemed a bit blurry, but Ford had reassured them both that if balance problems and some fuzziness was all that was wrong, she would be fine after some rest.

A grin broke across Addi’s face, which was encouraging, but then it faltered. “Do you want the good news or the bad news first?”

Ford’s expression turned grim. “Bad-”

“GOOD!” said Mabel desperately. “And, if it’s possible, can we avoid the bad completely?”

Addi sighed. “Well I know where we are, and who we’re going to see. It’s getting to them that’s the problem,”

⃝

“This is definitely a problem,” Ford agreed, shifting his hold on Addi and looking at the security checkpoint that barricaded the way into the central business district of the city. Guards worked their way through the crowd, asking for identification or proof of residence. They distributed out clear cards that would let them pass through the forcefield across the street.

“Why is the security here so tight?” breathed Mabel.

“Because this city is the nerve centre of Wikert Expansion Enterprises,” said Addi wearily.

Ford turned to her incredulously. “This again?!”

“I’m sorry, I forgot I gave a locator to someone who lived here. I will _definitely_ be taking it back,”

“What happens if we get caught?” asked Mabel. As an answer there was a sudden flurry of movement near the front of the crowd, and it was clear someone was attempting to force their way past a guard. The guard pulled out a baton and shocked them with it, blue electricity flickering across the person violently. Then they were shocked again. And again. And once more – for luck, Ford supposed.

“Oh,” said Mabel in a small voice.

“Alright,” Ford said, running a hand through his hair. He had been in worse situations, he could figure something out. “I’ll cause a distraction while you two go over to one of the guards and get the cards off him-”

“And what then? How are _you_ going to get through?” asked Add, glaring.

“I’ll catch up-”

“No, they’ll catch _you_. How about I try to find another way in-”

“Addi, you have a _concussion_ , and you know that all the entrances will have checkpoints exactly like this one,”

“We don’t know that for sure – some might have _more_ security,”

Ford was not sure if she was more injured than she was letting on, or if she was joking to lighten the mood, or if she was trying to ameliorate their argument, but it was not working, and it was not funny.

“You are not going to allow them any more opportunities to discover you than necessary,” he said firmly.

“And _you’re_ not going to try needlessly giving yourself up,” she said, just as stubbornly.

They frowned at each other huffily, Ford feeling simultaneously touched at her strong reaction to his idea, worried about her readiness to risk her exposure as a former resistance member, and annoyed at how quickly she had shut him down.

“Well it looks like we have no more ideas, then,” he said finally.

“AHEM,” said Mabel loudly. “I notice you haven’t consulted _me_ yet, and I happen to be a _very_ persuasive liar. I think I can get us through with no trouble at-”

“Identification please,” said a bored voice.

Dread filled Ford’s stomach as they faced the guard. While he and Adeline were still thinking furiously of a way out, Mabel stepped forward.

“Actually sir, we are so sorry to be any trouble, but as you can note from our ragged clothing and eyes haunted from the horrors we’ve seen, we are refugees fleeing from desolation and despair. My own mother has sustained a serious head injury!” Mabel was wide-eyed and her voice was tragic. Both he and Addi were frozen, not daring to do anything more than glance at each other. They were certain the guard would pull out his baton at any moment.

“Our relatives have courageously offered to take us in, but because of the, y’know, desolation and despair, we had to leave so quickly that we couldn’t take anything! Not even-” tears began to prick at her eyes, “-poor old Roger, our cat! So if you could please-”

“Yeah kid, I’m sorry, but there’s others waiting.” Surprisingly, there was a trace of sympathy in his single eye. “Just show me your arm and you can go on through,”

Mabel faltered. “Um, my – my arm?”

“Yep,”

 _Shit. The refugee processing system here must tattoo the people who make it through._ Ford had encountered that method of tagging in several dimensions. It made it much harder to fake residency.

The guard grew impatient with Mabel’s hesitancy and seized her arm himself. Addi’s hand shot out and pulled Mabel back against her, while Ford reached for his gun. The guard had already pushed Mabel’s sleeve up, however, revealing . . . not the incriminatingly blank patch of skin that Ford had expected, but a strange, whorling scar on the inside of her arm, where one might stick an IV.

 The guard nodded. “A successful blood synthesisation and transfusion against the virus only Wikert Expansion Enterprises has managed to develop a cure for. We get a lot of refugees in your situation, and this is an easy way to prove they’re residents, not spies. You two her parents?” he asked Addi and Ford.

“Yes!” Addi said, quickly and much louder than normal.

“Feel free to go on through,” he handed over the cards.

“You’re not going to check us, too?” Ford said, before he could stop himself. Addi stomped on his foot.

“Nope. You’ve all gone through the same thing, and have obviously had a hard enough time already. I own a cat myself,” the guard said compassionately, and sniffed. And that appeared to be that.

As they passed through the forcefield and walked out of view, Addi and Mabel started laughing hysterically, and Ford chuckled a little himself.

⃝

Addi knocked on the door. It opened.

“HIIIII KOT!” beamed Mabel.

It was difficult to discern expressions on the octopus-being’s face, but Addi thought Kot seemed very surprised. They recovered quickly, however.

“Marks. Mabel. And you brought the rude one,”

“Can we come in?” Addi asked, ignoring Ford’s sigh.

Kot rolled all six of their eyes and stood aside to let them pass.  

“Thank you,”

“So,” Kot said, once they were seated in a very humid living room (which was Kot’s species’ preferred climate, Addi remembered), “I heard Wesley was after you guys. Which makes it pretty strange you’re _here_ , visiting someone who works for him.”

Addi felt Ford tense beside her, and she did the same, but she managed to reply in a steady voice.

“Well, we needed a place to stay, and you know my portal beacon works on a randomiser that I’ve never been able to fix,”

“Oh, so you’re here by accident,”

“Yes,” Addi had assumed Kot would be more than willing to help them lie low for a while. Unfortunately, it was not looking that way. Too late, she remembered that when Kot had abandoned Wikert and joined the resistance, they had done so with all their being, and their undivided loyalty had proved invaluable. That loyalty was to the resistance, not friends, Addi realised.

There was a silence, during which Mabel fiddled anxiously with Addi’s sleeve.

“Adeline has a concussion.” Ford said suddenly. “Would you mind taking a look?”

Kot nodded shortly. As they examined her head, they said, “I assume this is from Wesley’s strike group? I heard he was sending Netessa after you,”

Addi hummed an affirmative.

“I’m glad you’re okay,”

The quiet admission caused Addi to sigh in relief. Everything was fine. Kot wasn’t suddenly going to start attacking them. She had just been winding herself up.

Eventually Kot deemed the injury was just as Ford had said: nothing a few hours rest wouldn’t fix, and they gave her some medication to help.

Addi downed it in one. Kot stared in what looked like disbelief.

“What?”

“You’re really not cautious enough,”

“I have a concussion, I think I can be forgiven,” Addi pointed out, raising an eyebrow.

“That’s going to knock you out,”

“Yes?”

“. . . you realise I’ve told Wesley you’re here, right?”

“What?!” Addi and her friends exclaimed together.

“But you said we could stay!” protested Mabel.

“No, _you_ assumed you could. Quite rudely, actually,” Kot crossed several of their tentacles irritably.

“But you treated Addi!” Ford said angrily.

“You just gave me some drugs!” Addi said at the same time.

“Oh, so you think that just because I care about your well-being I’m not going to set a murderous resistance on you? Huh. Narrow-minded, much,”

Mabel booed, Ford stood up, and Addi tried to as well, but suddenly her legs weren’t obeying her and she flopped face-down onto a pillow. “Great,” she grunted into it.

She felt Ford pick her up and start heading for the door. “Wait, wait a minute!” she motioned for him to turn back around so she could address Kot. He reluctantly did so, and her hair fell over her face.

“You-! Mabel can you please . . . thanks.” Mabel brushed the hair away. “You are a terrible friend!”

“I’m not stopping you from leaving, am I?”

“Shut your mouth – wherever it is!” snapped Mabel, and pushed Ford towards the door. They had to leave before resisters arrived.

⃝

Once they were several streets away, Mabel asked, “What do we do now?”

“Well, it’s clear Wesley’s not going to stop coming after us, and I’m sorry, but I don’t think we should trust any more of your friends,” Ford said to Addi.

Addi agreed, feeling herself starting to lose consciousness. “You know what the only thing that can stop the resistance is, don’t you?” she asked unenthusiastically.

Ford nodded tiredly. “Yes. Wikert Expansion Enterprises,”

“Oh boy,” Mabel breathed, and they stood there for a moment, soaking in the realisation.

“Well, I think I can convince them to help! I’ve got all this information on Wesley, after all,” Addi said brightly.

“What? No.” Ford said sharply. “We just agreed an hour ago not to give ourselves up!”

“No,” Addi corrected sweetly, “we agreed that _you_ wouldn’t be giving yourself up,”

“And that _you_ wouldn’t-” Ford started, but Addi kissed him and he shut up.

The last thing she heard before passing out was Mabel asking if they were going to sleep in an alley again.

⃝

“Help! Help, please help!” cried Mabel as she frantically ran up to a security guard in the enormous lobby of Wikert Expansion Enterprise’s main building. She grabbed their arm and started to pull on it.

“What’s wrong, child?”

“Please, it’s my mom, something happened, I don’t know what, she just collapsed-”

The guard looked around for someone to take their post in front of the tech service elevator, but in the early hours of the morning the entire lobby was deserted.

“Show me where she is,”

Mabel led them away, noting with satisfaction a dark shadow which slipped silently out of hiding and entered the elevator.

“She’s right here,” they rounded a massive pillar extending up to the arched ceiling and she pointed to where Addi was slumped against it. The guard knelt down to check her breathing and heart rate, their feelers quivering with sensitivity.

“She seems to be fine. Perhaps she fainted. Have you both been receiving enough fluids and nutrition?”

“Well, we’re refugees, we’re still kinda sorting out our situation-”

“I understand. May I see your arm?”

This was the part she had anticipated. Mabel confidently and obligingly pulled back her layers of clothing to reveal the swirly scar. It was quite pretty in the daylight.

The guarded nodded and then accepted Mabel’s quick lie that Addi had one too. “I can take you up to one of the offices upstairs while she recovers if you like?”

“Please, yes, thank you so much!”

The office they found themselves in was by no means the grandest in the place. Mabel hoped their plan was still going to work, as she couldn’t exactly demand to be left alone in the office of Wikert herself, or anyone even close to her level.

The guard gave them a couple glasses of water, then left. As soon as the door closed, Addi sat up on the couch and winked at her. The drugs had worn off hours ago.

“Good job, kiddo. Say hi to Ford,” she waved at the security lens in the corner of the ceiling, Mabel following suit.

“He should be sending a message to whoever’s office this is right?”

“About an urgent resistance matter requiring their attention,”

“Well hopefully they’ve got some jurisdiction on this, otherwise we might be arrested, haha,”

The wait was rather quiet after that.

⃝

The door slammed open and a very frazzled-looking otter person bounded in. He stiffened when he saw them, and closed the door slowly, obviously thinking furiously.

“Calling security isn’t a good idea,” warned Addi, shifting slightly so he could see Big Bertha. Mabel was impressed that the only sign he gave of fear was a widening of his eyes.

“Adeline Marks,” he said.

“You know who I am?”

He snorted. “Of course I do. I’ve been the director of operations on everything related to resistance cell 736 for years. Or I was, until all our information on it vanished a few days ago and I was _severely_ demoted. I assume that was your doing?” he said sourly.

“What a coincidence,” Addi said breezily (while Mabel quietly half freaked out and half rejoiced), “because that’s exactly what I’m here to offer you back. It looks like the multiverse is on your side today, my friend.”

The otter-man’s eyes narrowed. “Why would you give that up? You’ve just succeeded in erasing it all,”

“The leader of that particular resistance cell – I call him Wesley, but his real name is-” Addi gestured gracefully to Mabel, who took the cue and growled expertly, “-that, and he’s part of a species known as polarions – did you know any of that? No? Well anyway, he and I had a falling out.”

“He’s trying to kill us now,” Mabel put in.

“We’d like him to stop,”

“And this is where I come in?” the otter-man said, walking slowly over to his desk and sitting down behind it, as though this was any other business meeting.

“Uh huh. As I’ve already demonstrated, I have a lot of information that you don’t and, in fact, never did. Part of that is the dimension and location of RC736’s main headquarters. I can give that to you,”

There was a definite spark of greed in the man’s eyes now. Mabel could practically see his visions of glory and triumph, reinstatement and reward, as he was hailed for taking down a resistance cell.

“Alright. You have a deal. Call me Lic,”

“Wee and lick. This place sure is good with names,” Mabel muttered.

The door opened again and Ford came through.

Lic’s jaw dropped. “Stanford Pines?”

Ford kept his hand on the doorhandle. “Yes?” he answered guardedly.

 _This can’t be good,_ Mabel thought.

Lic’s eyes turned to her. “And you must be Mabel Pines, then,”

_Definitely not good._

“How do you know that?” Ford demanded.

“Well, you _are_ near the top of the interdimensional most-wanted list.” retorted Lic. “The bounty on you was just increased because of that girl.” He nodded to Mabel. “Bill Cipher’s offering extra if she’s captured or killed along with you.”

Addi immediately backed away, putting one hand on her sword and stepping in front of Mabel. Ford didn’t bother with warnings and aimed his gun directly at Lic’s forehead.

“Whoa, whoa, relax, I’m not going to hand you over! Wikert herself has made it very clear that she has no interest in dealing with that dream demon. This company stands for order and control, not chaos and destruction!”

No one relaxed. It might have been because that spark of greed was still shining in Lic’s eye.

“How about this: I’ll bring down RC736 for you, and in return Stanford Pines, certified genius in almost every dimension, can come work for us. Anonymously, of course. Your mind would be a _very_ valuable asset,”

“You’re already going to reap the rewards of taking down the cell, I don’t think you need much else,” said Addi.

“Who needs the resistance off their back more, Marks? It’s not _my_ life that’s on the line. I’m going to need some extra incentive now that I know how much you can deliver on,”

“Adeline-” Ford started.

“What about me?” interrupted Addi. “You’ve got loads of geniuses working for you, but how many resisters do you have?”

“Addi, no!” burst out Mabel.

“How many resisters as important as me?”

Mabel felt as though everything was unravelling around her, the way she’d sometimes pull at a loose string on a sweater until it was completely undone. She couldn’t believe Addi was doing this! She wanted to shove the bracelet she had made in her face and _force_ her to adhere to the things she had in mind when she made it.

“See, the problem with that is you’re not going to be much use after RC736 is gone,” Lic continued, like the other two didn’t exist.

“I worked with the resistance for five years. Do you honestly think I didn’t have dealings with at least a quarter of the cells? That’s about two hundred and fifty independent syndicates. I have information you can’t even _begin_ to imagine,”

Lic grinned, showing sharp teeth. “You make a fair point. Alright, you win. We have a new deal,”

“Adeline!” Ford holstered his gun and strode towards her, seizing her arm. “Excuse us.” he said curtly to Lic, and Mabel followed them into the adjoining storage room. “ _What are you doing?_ ” he hissed.

Addi glared and pulled away from him. “Exactly what _you_ were prepared to do a second ago, you hypocrite,”

“I’m not going to let you be trapped here-”

“Stanford, I’m not actually going to go through with this!”

There was silence. Then Mabel said, “You’re not?”

“Of course not!” A disbelieving grin spread across Addi’s face. “Your reactions made it very convincing, though,”

Mabel laughed and hugged her tightly. Ford wordlessly followed.

“That was _very_ well done,” he said soon enough, relief apparent in every syllable.

“All according to plan,” she replied warmly, giving him a squeeze. “I’m not going anywhere, you two,”

When they headed back into the room, Lic was already making preparations.

“All sorted out then? Good. Now this base you want us to attack, do you know how many resisters are going to be there?”

Addi hesitated, then shook her head. “They move in and out of it all the time, so there could be anywhere from thirty to two hundred inside. The only thing I can guarantee is that Wesley will be there. He never leaves, unless for a major operation, and I would have heard about it if there was one being planned – they take weeks to prepare,”

“Unfortunately, if we don’t have an approximate figure, we can’t make a move. We value our personnel. There is an upside though-”

“You don’t value us?” predicted Ford.

“Got in one. Don’t worry, I don’t want you to take control of the place yourself, I just want you to get inside and get us a number. We’ll scramble a force and handle it from there,” he beamed at them.

“Yeah that sounds about right,” said Mabel glumly. Right in keeping with the usual load the multiverse dumped on them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to go back and retype some of this because I forgot Addi had a concussion. So that was a very frustrating experience.
> 
> I was laughing while typing the entire scene with Kot. I also noticed Kot seemed to resemble the cycloptopus a little too closely, so I gave them six eyes instead of one.
> 
> Mabel's first portal vision is from another amazing fanfic (I know, I know, I can't help myself) by thesnadger called Five Minutes Older. I cried.
> 
> I think some of the only times Addi and Ford would fight would be when they were scared for each other, like when the other was going to do something self-sacrificing.
> 
> Ford: *has a brain*  
> All the bad guys: we want your brain. it is a Good Brain.


	10. Robot In-Laws Are the Coolest In-Laws

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay. It got really long. So I split into ANOTHER two chapters. Man I am bad at estimates.
> 
> I've used up my exclamation mark quota for the year.
> 
> SO. MANY. ROBOTS. SO. MUCH. TECHNOLOGY. I just ended up making up phrases that sounded right. I hope I didn't hurt anyone with the ridiculousness of my tech-talk.

_I wish we didn’t have to do this,_ Addi thought.

Wikert Expansion Enterprises was apparently so influential in their dimension of origin that they could shut down the interdimensional customs terminal with a single transmission. So they had. Next thing Addi knew, they were being escorted to a private section of the building and a swirling blue portal was waiting for them.

“Assuming the coordinates you gave us are right, this should take you straight to RC736’s base of operations. Use this-” Lic thrust a transmitter into Addi’s hand – “to let us know the number of hostiles, and the kind of weapons technology we should expect, and we’ll arrive within twenty minutes, give or take,”

“Give or take what, exactly?” said Ford. Lic just grinned, like Ford had made a joke. Addi didn’t think that was a good sign.

The very reluctant scouting trio stepped through, and found themselves back in the dimension with permanently black sky, and furthermore, back inside RC736’s base of operations. The hangar, to be exact.

“Shhhhhoot,” hissed Addi, once again refraining from swearing in front of Mabel. They darted to the shelter of a nearby shuttle.

“Wow, they weren’t messing around when they said they’d get us to the base, were they?” said Mabel.

“I suppose not.” answered Ford, checking all around them for resisters. Fortunately, the hangar was deserted. “All the shuttles are here, so we shouldn’t have to expect any surprise arrivals.”

“I think we should split up.” said Addi suddenly. The others looked at her in alarm. “This place is huge,” she explained, “and the longer we take, the more likely it is that Lic is going to assume we’ve been captured.”

Ford had started nodding in agreement halfway through. “In that case, you take the residential quarter and the medical wing, and Mabel and I will handle the rest,”

Addi raised her eyebrows at him, letting him know she was fully aware of how he had directed her to the least dangerous parts of the garrison, and of how he was keeping Mabel with him so that he personally could keep her out of trouble. Ever the protector, that Stanford, doing what he thought was best for others without consulting them. In this instance she wasn’t complaining, however, so she just shook her head at his faux innocent expression and gave him a long kiss. He brought his hand around to the back of her neck, and she felt butterflies in her stomach before she pulled away.

Lastly, she swept Mabel into a surprise hug and touched their foreheads together, grinning at her giggle. “You stay safe, you hear?” She waited for Mabel to nod and then set off, walking backwards towards an exit. “Let’s meet back here in an hour. See you soon.”

_We’re almost through this. In twenty-four hours, my family will be free._

⃝

“I thought you said we were splitting up?” catechised Mabel. “How come I’m coming with you?”

Ford sighed tiredly, having expected this. “Mabel, I know-”

“You know I can handle myself, right? I’m not useless, right?”

“Yes, I know you are a very capable person, and you are _far_ from useless. However, I need you to stay with me because then I can be _sure_ of helping you if you get hurt – which could happen to anyone, not only yourself!” he added quickly as Mabel’s mouth opened, “or in case of . . . any other number of scenarios.” he finished lamely, preferring to ignore the thoughts filling in those blanks.

Mabel was not satisfied with his answer. “You don’t think _Addi’s_ going to get hurt,” she said, rather petulantly.

Ford bit back the first answer that came to mind. _Adeline has been surviving on her own for thirty years, and unlike you she is an armed and dangerous adult._ That was not to say he was not dreading what might happen to her, now he thought about it. He mentally shook himself. _No time, have to sort this out quickly._

He decided honesty would be the best tactic. Quite apart from being the quickest way to appease his niece, she always seemed to know whether or not he was acting truthfully with her, and scolded him if he neglected to do so.

“Mabel, I am far more concerned with your safety than with Addi’s because you are the most important thing in the universe to me. In _any_ universe, really. And I’m sure Adeline feels the same way.” He smiled tenderly. “So therefore, I am not prepared to take any risks when it comes to you. Or, well, unless they are unavoidable, or for scientific purposes, or for fun, or-”

He was interrupted by the fierce hug she gave him.

“Love you too.” she said simply, and looked up at him reassuringly. “I promise you aren’t gonna lose me. _NotevenwhenIdothis!_ ”

She darted away from him and dodged through a nearby access doorway. Ford was bolting after her before he fully registered what she was doing, and caught the door before it swung shut completely. Outside the hangar were many service tunnels, and this access doorway just so happened to face a junction of four of them. There was no sign of Mabel.

It was definitely the smart choice, he knew that. With the three of them all scouting different sections of the base their reconnaissance would be accomplished quicker, and they would have a much greater chance of receiving the support of Wikert Expansion Enterprises. He had not been willing to let Mabel go, so she had taken matters into her own hands. He should be proud. He was, on some level.

“Fuck, fuck, shit, fuck . . .”

That level was buried deep beneath layers of anger and terror.

He chose a random corridor and ran down it.

⃝

About forty people in the “wreck-room”. Addi hadn’t been able to get close enough to check properly. Her quick glances from various entrance points were by no means accurate, but they were the best she could do, so she dutifully took down the estimate and the location in the transmitter, holding off from sending the message; she would wait until the entire compound had been seen to.

 _Security cameras would make this a lot easier,_ she reflected as she made her way stealthily towards the medical wing, checking rooms as she went. Then again, she didn’t want to be caught on a monitor herself, so maybe not. Overall, it was a good thing that Wesley had dismantled most of the Wikert security he could find. As far as Addi knew, he had never installed a replacement.

The more she thought, the more things there seemed to be that could go wrong. It was unlikely, but not impossible, that some resisters were out at the moment and could come back at the same time Wikert arrived. Several could round a corner and try to stop her at any moment. They could already know she was here, or Ford and Mabel could be being captured right this instant. An ambush could be waiting for her. The approximation they sent Lic might not be good enough. Actually, that was fairly likely. It wasn’t like she could just stop all the resisters from moving around, so she was bound to miss –

Wait a minute. She _could_ stop them from moving around. Risky, yes, but ultimately it would be easier . . .

⃝

_Okay, it’s okay Mabel, you’re not lost, you’re just a little displaced._

Everything around her seemed so quiet. She hadn’t yet encountered a single living thing and frankly she was beginning to wonder if anyone even inhabited this part of the building. Was she just wasting time? Well if she was, she had no idea how to get back on track, so she might as well continue the way she was going.

The corridor was very, very long, rounding many corners so it seemed like she was walking in a square shape, but she never came to a junction. There was the occasional door on the outer edge of the square. They had all been locked so far. The ground sloped gradually downwards, and Mabel assumed she was already underground. A feeling of slight claustrophobia was starting to get to her. She really hoped there was actually a way out at the end of this.

She also hoped, probably in vain, that Ford wasn’t worrying, and wondered if he would try grounding her again. It hadn’t worked well last time, as Ford couldn’t work out how to go about it in the first place (what with their nomadic lifestyle), and had melted the instant she snuggled up and apologised.

There was a faint buzzing noise coming from around the next corner. Mabel drew her grappling hook from inside her coat and approached slowly, mouth set in a determined line.

Peeking around the corner, she took in the scene.

The corridor opened into a long, starkly lit space, filled with assembly lines. They were laid out in front of her in parallel rows stretching to the opposite end of the room. Weapons were systematically being tweaked, repaired and cleaned by mechanisms as they moved down transparent conveyor belts. Mabel followed the progress of a gun down the line as if mesmerised.

 _“Can I help you?”_ a tinny voice said behind her. Mabel yelped and turned, brandishing her grappling hook.

A stocky robot observed her quizzically. _“Is your weapon malfunctioning, small one?”_

“Uh, no,”

 _“Do you have a special repair in need of undertaking?”_ The robot asked. It looked vaguely humanoid, but it had a sort of trunk with wheels rather than legs. Its chest was also a large magnetic plate, a perfect fit for the crates being filled.

“Also, uh, no,” she replied. The thing wasn’t very threatening. It looked eager to help, as much as a robot _can_ be eager. “I’m looking for a way out,”

_“The main exit is located along the east wall. I can guide you,”_

“Thank you,” she said courteously.

The robot rotated on its wheels and she followed it past the lines.

“What happened? To the guns and stuff?”

_“A mission. These military types are fairly lax with their equipment maintenance, which does not help during a firefight. Apparently, many explosions ensued. Ordinarily they do not take my advice, however, today is recall day and I have the majority of their equipment. I am in charge now. Ha. Ha,”_

“Are you like, the supervisor?”

_“I oversee repair operations for all technology in the building. Are you a resister?”_

“Er,” Mabel considered how to answer. She doubted the robot would care enough to inform anyone, and besides, there was no one around to tell. “No,” she said confidently.

_“Thank God. I’ve had enough of them,”_

They reached the double-doored exit. The robot held one open for her.

_“If you need any technology-related work done, let me know,”_

Mabel smiled and went to go through the door. Then she stopped.

“Actually,” she said, turning back to it.

⃝

Nothing for it. She’d have to kick it in.

The operations centre was a sparse office without much use, as all the tech from Wikert Expansion Enterprises had been shut down when Wesley seized control. The only security system he had left active was the emergency fire procedure. Handily enough, it also doubled as a way to keep the resistance cell under control. A way to remind people who was in charge.

Addi’s boot slammed into the door, right next to the lock. It crumpled. Thankfully, nobody was inside and she didn’t have use her sword. Ever conscious of how much danger she and her companions were in, she wasted no time in logging into the system’s mainframe and bypassing the security it threw up. After all that time she had spent trying to open this place’s laboratory, hacking into the network constructed by Wesley was comparatively easy. Once she was in, she pulled up the desired protocol.

 _Are you sure you wish to close off all checkpoints?_ asked the computer, holographic words flashing.

Addi hit enter.

_Initiating lockdown._

⃝

It quickly became clear that this was not the path his niece had taken. Despite how Mabel was able to move very quickly when she wanted to, the pace he had elected to move at meant that he should have caught up to her by now.

 _Focus on the mission._ Well, the only other option was to develop an ulcer, so scouting it was.

Ford crept onwards, ears strained and weapon ready. He had already narrowly dodged several resisters, and had attempted to memorise their appearance so he could avoid counting them a second time, should the occasion arise. He came to a doorway and quickly checked for occupants. Rather than leading to a conference room of sorts, like the last few had, this opened into a wide hallway, at the end of which were double deadlocked doors and titanium-reinforced walls. On top of all that there were at least nine different types of access scanners.

He had been here before, of course. It was hard to forget an area containing so much security. This was the very lab Wesley had tested his skills as a hacker on. He still felt quite proud of how he had managed to disrupt the system and all its safeguards.

A thought struck him. Ford pulled out his portable monitor and walked over to the left wall, activating the hologram there with a touch. He connected the two devices easily, and set about finding his (virtual) way into the lab once again. It was much easier now that he had done all the work once before.

He typed in one final command, and the computer obeyed. Green lights flickered on all around the laboratory’s entrance, and the door beeped open freely, but Ford turned on his heel and left.

 _While that will_ certainly _be useful, you still have a job to do._

Past the lab, away from the medical wing, Addi had that covered, here looked interesting . . .

Approximately five floors, eight planning stations, and twenty-six rooms of snoring, off-duty resisters later, Ford checked his watch. It was time to head back. Once again, thoughts about his family’s safety began to arise, but before they could do much more than flicker into life, a sudden wail of alarms crashed into existence, and flashing red lights assaulted his eyes. Feeling his heartbeat skyrocket and adrenaline flood through him, Ford clapped his hands over his head at the sudden deafening and blinding sensations, and was barely able to observe the thick metal seals being lowered at the end of the corridor. He had a feeling the entire section had just been closed off, and that similar things were happening all over the compound.

_Who did they catch is Mabel okay what’s happening with Addi are they safe how do I get to them how long do I have –_

Cursing and complaining. The sirens had stopped and he could hear people moving away from their shared quarters to find out what was happening. This told him that whatever was going on at least had not been a set-up: they still had a chance.

It hit him that he was trapped in a corridor with many disgruntled resisters on the way. Backup would be fine idea, now.

Ford drew the portable monitor out again and selected the first of two options he had at the ready. Then he drew his gun. Robots were not that reliable, and he was not sure whether these specially designed killing machines would attack him as well.

⃝

 _“You would like me to shut off all power to this facility’s external defences,”_ repeated the robot flatly.

Mabel nodded eagerly. “And also stop repairing these weapons. In fact, can you just seal this room completely so no-one can get to it? If most of the guns are down here then that’ll make it so much easier for the WEE people to storm the place and arrest everyone inside,”

_“Wee people? Storm the place?”_

“Yeah, my grunkle, grauntie, and I kinda recruited this really powerful organisation to help us take you down. Don’t worry though, I’ll make sure you won’t go to robot prison or whatever. BUT,” she added cunningly, “only if you help me.”

The robot didn’t need long to make its decision. She was sure that if it were possible it would have blanched. _“I agree to your terms,”_

Promptly, sirens wailed and a metal plate rolled down over the exit.

“Wow, that was quick! Thanks! I still need to get out, though,” said Mabel brightly.

_“I did not do that,”_

Mabel laughed nervously. Horrible thoughts about being trapped, being captured, being separated from the others flashed across her mind. “Then who did?”

 _“Unclear. You may use this to gain passage, however. Take it and please, please, go.”_ The robot handed her a small, square, squishy thing, which, when she experimentally squeezed it, caused the metal plate to rise about two feet off the ground. It lowered when she pressed it again.

“Thank you so much, you won’t regret-”

 _“Too late. The sentinels are active.”_ the robot interrupted. _“I do not wish to be involved in this any further. My in-laws are quite authoritarian, the cold-circuited jerks.”_

“You have in-laws?”

 _“The key will give you access through all the checkpoints, and will not mark you as a threat to the sentinels.”_ It started shooing her towards the exit.

“Does this mean you’re married?” she asked while belly-crawling under the gap. “Can robots even get married? Do you secretly feel love?” No answers were forthcoming. “I’ll find out eventually!” she threatened, and resealed the exit.

⃝

Addi winced at how loud the lockdown had been. Discretion was obviously not what Wesley went in for. The most pressing thing on her mind at the moment though, was finding Stanford and Mabel. The hour was long since up, so they _should_ be safely back in the hangar.

Before she left the operations centre, she checked the status of the building. The resistance would no doubt be on high alert, wondering what was happening. She estimated she had perhaps half an hour before they managed to break through the checkpoints.

Suddenly a cluster of blue dots appeared in the laboratory. They all began moving towards the sleeping quarters.

“That can’t be good,” she muttered.

Addi drew her sword and left, grabbing an access key as she went. The area with those blue dots looked like trouble, and the only troublemakers in this facility were on her side. Ford and Mabel needed her help.

The access key allowed her to bypass several checkpoints, until she rolled under one more and came up facing three resisters. One of them was Dek, who was too surprised to leer.

Limbs reached for guns and Addi’s own finger instinctively thumbed her E-field button. It didn’t work. It just crackled a spark, shocking her painfully. She cried out, already halfway towards them, and she was certain the distraction would cost her the use of at least one arm as someone was bound to shoot at her, but nothing more happened. She looked up in time to see expressions of dawning realisation on three faces. None of them had guns.

“That bloody robot-!” one had time to say before Addi socked him in the jaw and he collapsed. She ducked under another’s strike and sidestepped Dek’s punch, then gripped his arm vice-like and pulled him towards his friend. Their foreheads collided more gently than she meant, but their heads must have been soft because they fell to the floor just like the first guy. She paused to add their number to her total estimate in the transmitter, and hurried onwards. No weapons. That was interesting. And very good.

 _“HALT. STAND DOWN. HALT,”_ A booming digital voice emanated from a very deadly-looking black and grey robot ahead of her. It was a sentinel, and several others were behind it. She hadn’t known there were any here . . . wait a second. Hadn’t Ford said something about finding armed robots in the laboratory once? She had a feeling she knew what all those blue dots had been.

“ _STAND DOWN_ ,” it repeated, lifting an arm which transformed in a series of intricate moves into a plasma cannon. Superheated air wavered inside the glowing orange barrel. There was no way Addi could expect to face off against a sentinel and win – not that she wasn’t tempted to try. Mabel and Ford were in deeper peril every second.

She dropped Big Bertha grudgingly and raised her arms in surrender.

 _“IDENDTIFY YOURSELF,”_ the sentinel demanded.

“Adeline Marks,”

The checkpoint was behind her. She had closed it when she stood up, but if she opened it again would she be able to quickly duck under and get away? _No, you idiot, that robot is going to kill you if you make one wrong move, and besides, do you really think that plasma cannon can’t melt right through the wall?_

_“PRESENT IDENTIFICATION,”_

“What identification?”

_“PRESENT IDENTIFICATION,”_

“I don’t exactly carry a passport these days,” Her pulse was roaring in her ears and she wished her smart mouth would shut it occasionally.

_“PRESENT IDENTIFICATION OR WE WILL OPEN FIRE,”_

Nothing for it. She was going to have to take her chances with the checkpoint.

“Okay, here it is.” She opened the hand with the access key in it, ready to squeeze the living daylights out of it, when the robot automatically lowered its plasma cannon and reverted it back into an arm.

_“IDENTIFICATION ACCEPTED,”_

“Really?” Addi checked her hand to make sure that yes, she was indeed carrying an access key, not a passport.

_“WHAT ARE YOUR ORDERS?”_

“Orders?” She had absolutely no idea why these sentinels thought they were under her command, but she was not going to complain. “Uh, okay, I need to find two humans. Their names are Stanford and Mabel Pines, and they’re related, if that helps.”

 _“SCANNING TERRITORY.”_ After a moment the green thinking symbol in the sentinel’s visor dimmed. _“NEAREST TARGET LOCATED. ADULT HUMAN MALE, FIFTY-EIGHT YEARS OF AGE, BLOOD TYPE-”_

“That’s Ford! Is he okay? Where’s Mabel? Why aren’t they together?!”

_“TARGET STANFORD PINES IS CURRENTLY SURROUNDED BY HOSTILE MEMBERS OF WIKERT RESISTENCE CELL 736. SEVERAL FIREARMS DETECTED. ADOLESCENT HUMAN FEMALE OF RELATION TO TARGET IS INBOUND.”_

Not having time to sort through all the pressing questions she had, Addi focused on the most pressing issue. “We have to help him!”

_“ALL SENTINELS ALERTED. ASSISTANCE WILL ARRIVE AT TARGET STANFORD PINES’ LOCATION IN T-MINUS 10 SECONDS,”_

“Okay, take me to him now! Quickly! We need to be there as fast as possible!”

The sentinel immediately fired up its plasma cannon and blasted a hole through the wall on the left.

⃝

Mabel still had no idea where she was. She had some sort of access-all-areas pass, she had been up and down several floors, and her feet were starting to hurt, but she did not have a map. Or a watch. How much time had passed since she left the hangar?

There was sounds of gunfire nearby. Right. She shouldn’t’ve expected _all_ the weapons to be recalled for maintenance. Her eyes widened as she realised what gunfire meant. The resisters were attacking someone! Actually, she supposed it could be Ford attacking _them_ , too. That was better. A much nicer option.

Regardless, she sprinted as fast as she could towards the sounds.

Abruptly, they changed. She didn’t think screams were a good sign. And those blasts were a _lot_ more powerful than usual laser guns. What the heck was happening? There were more noises now. The laser fire had started up again, but there was something else underneath that. It was like . . . crashing? Crumbling? Where was it coming from? Was it getting closer?

A red glow briefly permeated the wall ahead and to the right of her, and then it exploded into the corridor, chucks of concrete flying, making . . . oh! A _kabooming_ sound.

A big metal robot, looking much cooler than the one in the basement, stepped through the hole, followed by Addi and several more robots. At almost the exact same time, the wall directly opposite them, on Mabel’s left, exploded, littering the corridor with debris once again. More robots, these ones escorting Ford, stepped through. Once both humans were standing in the hallway, they all went back through the left-hand hole, presumably towards the resisters.

There was a manic light in her uncle’s eyes, and once he stopped coughing he grinned as broadly as he could.

“You sent these?!” he asked Addi excitedly.

“Yeah! I’m guessing you activated them?!” she said, equally vibrantly.

“I did! Why are they obeying you though?”

“I don’t know! They asked for identification, and when they saw I had an access key they did what I wanted! It was so weird. And awesome! Did you see their plasma cannons?”

“I didn’t know they could be made so small! It’s a wonder of engineering! The sentinels must have seen that the access key and assumed you were the one who caused the lockdown. Since it was initiated through hacking – against the resistance’s wishes – _and_ because I programmed them not to accept orders from Wikert or the resistance, they must have come to the conclusion that they were meant to follow you, since you’re not either!”

“I just thought we needed a way to stop the resisters moving around, and as a bonus this can probably contain them until Wikert arrives! We did it! Wait, you did manage to get a good estimate of your area, right? And by the way, I am _so_ sorry for trapping you with the resisters, I thought you’d be in the hangar,” At this point they were both laughing and gripping each other’s arms tightly, looking as though they were barely restraining themselves from jumping around madly.

“Who cares, you sent robots after me! It was a great idea! Give me the transmitter, I’ll add my estimate.” Ford quickly typed his numbers in and sent the message. “Yes! It’s done! Only between one hundred and one hundred and thirty hostiles, so hopefully they’ll be here soon.”

“Did you notice how most of the weapons are missing?”

“Yes, although I was more grateful than interested. They would have shot me without hesitation if they hadn’t been so surprised. Ha!”

“It’s going to make this whole thing so much easier. I guess the lockdown will have taken away the element of surprise though, won’t it? They’re expecting a big attack now,”

“Well, I do have a diversion planned. This should surprise them,” said Ford, cockily holding up his portable monitor. Addi looked down at it and read whatever was there.

“You’re going to detonate the security explosive in the lab.” she said, and then looked up at him again. “You are damn sexy sometimes, you know that?”

“Just sometimes?”

“Hi! Mabel here!” Mabel watched as their faces changed from delighted to appalled. They hadn’t even noticed she was in the corridor with them. “Just wondering if you guys know we’re still in danger?”

The atmosphere took a sudden dive for distress. Immediately, Ford hastened over and scooped her up, while Addi took her face in her hands and spouted apologies for not thinking of her sooner.

“Are you okay?” Ford didn’t wait for an answer before he started checking her for injuries.

“I’m fine!” Mabel protested, attempting to wriggle down from her uncle’s tight grip. It didn’t work. She winced as she realised that was probably her fault: he didn’t want her running off again. What was more, Addi looked too freaked out at finding her separated from Ford to approve of her decision.

“Sh – Shiny gold rings!” Addi said very loudly. “We didn’t get your estimate! Wikert might not be prepared enough!”

“Actually, the only person I met was a vengeful yet grudging robot who said those other robots were his in-laws. It’s keeping all the guns in the basement. Also, I have an access key too! Do you think the robots would obey me?”

Ford chuckled, and both adults visibly relaxed as they saw she was her usual bubbly self.

“Don’t do that again,” her uncle warned, but no further chastising came.

The sounds of the fighting had quieted down several minutes ago, and the robots had moved somewhere else. All three people jumped when sirens once again wailed and green lights burst into life as the metal plates rolled upwards into the ceiling.

“Looks like the resistance is back in control,” Ford said.

“Not for long,” Addi said, and swiped the monitor from him. She wasted no time in selecting the second option.

A massive explosion rocked the building, coming from somewhere above them. Mabel saw a few pieces of debris actually jump off the ground. _No more lab,_ she thought.

Addi grinned in satisfaction and handed the monitor back to Ford.

“Who’s sexy now?” he said appreciatively.

“Mabel’s still here!” Mabel shouted in his ear.

⃝

Addi led them away from the blast. It had probably been powerful enough to breach the outer wall, so the resistance would be expecting an attack from there. Until the force from Wikert arrived they just had to keep out of sight.

 _That sounded simpler in theory,_ Addi reflected.

“Marks. I thought I would find you down here,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And thus Mabel's space parents experience the sensation of forgetting your child somewhere you shouldn't, and also of acting more risque than they meant to. (I was laughing so damn hard when I thought of it that I couldn't not include it.)
> 
> Addi and Ford nerding out in the middle of a mission makes me happy, and so far, Addi's doing better than Ford at keeping from swearing in front of Mabel. lol, like it was ever going to be different.
> 
> I had to rewrite TWO sections of this at least twice EACH. UGH. Why can't it just come out perfectly?


	11. Mabel-Love

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FINIIIIIIIISHED!  
> This was so fun dudes. Thanks for reading. First fic, yay!
> 
> Ready your comfort bears.

The click of a weapon being cocked was unpleasantly loud in the deserted first floor. Addi squinted into the dim light, impatiently waiting for her eyes to adjust.

“Perfect timing, too,” continued Wesley.

They were too far away from the exit to turn back. The gun Wesley had trained on them would fire the instant they made a move. Wesley himself was standing about ten feet away, affably smiling at them as usual.

“I was not certain you would bring Doctor Pines or Mabel, but then again, you do get rather attached,”

Beside her, Ford was lowering Mabel to the ground and reaching for his own gun. He refrained from drawing it for the moment.

“I feel obliged to inform you of what an inventive diversion destroying the lab was.” No one was replying to Wesley’s comments, but this did not seem to deter him. “However, I would like to know what it was a diversion _for_.”

Addi was too busy frantically thinking of an escape plan to concern herself with trivialities like conversation, but Ford was apparently of a different mind.

“A force from Wikert Expansion Enterprises is being assembled right now to storm this place and arrest all resistance members. Make this easier on yourself and surrender,”

Wesley stilled, all except his fingers on the two hands not supporting the gun. Those started tapping agitatedly.

“I must say, I was not expecting you to go to Wikert for help. I thought you would have known better. You must realise they cannot be trusted,”

“It was a choice between them and you, so guess what? We didn’t choose you,” snapped Adeline.

“I do wish you would see things from my perspective, Marks, and focus on the end result rather than the people involved. I suspect it would save you a great deal of pain in the future,”

Addi was getting a sinking feeling in her stomach. Wesley was talking about inconsequential things, and listening to their responses. What was the point of that? The facility was about to be overrun, the resistance cell was about to be destroyed, and its leader was wasting time in conversation. It didn’t even seem as though he intended to kill them. None of this was adding up.

Something beeped softly. It sounded familiar. Wesley was still talking.

“Our stunt at Wikert’s research facility on this planet a few days ago attracted some attention, and when you arrived at Kot’s place yesterday, an interested party contacted me. It was not entirely unexpected, and was an opportunity to, as you say, kill two birds with one stone whenever you reared your heads again,”

This ominous statement had Ford pulling his gun out of its holster. Mabel was standing so that the movement was concealed behind her. Addi itched to reach for her own weapon, but it would have been too obvious. _And what could I do, anyway? The E-field is broken._

“The first, as you doubtless know, would be to eliminate the threat posed by the information you three, especially Marks, have about myself and the resistance. The second would be to gain the favour of a very powerful entity and earn a large reward in the process,”

Mabel gasped, and everything fell into place for Addi. _He’s been stalling, do something!_

Wesley stepped aside to reveal his superior portal beacon, ready for reception, and swiftly dialled a location into its transmitter. “How long should it have taken Wikert to arrive? Not this long, surely?”

Behind the beacon, a blue dot sparked into existence, and slowly began to grow. This portal was not like usual portals, however. As it gained size, the blueness moved to the edges of the circle like a centrifuge, revealing a starry blackness in the middle. The rim of the portal became interspersed with a rainbow of colours, until the familiar light blue was replaced entirely. None of them could mistake that sight, as each of them had lost sleep over it many, many times. This was the portal that had ripped them away from their homes. This was the portal that led to the Nightmare Realm.

There was no escaping if they went through there. Not again.

“Bill Cipher is waiting for the Pines, but unfortunately, Marks, you are worth more to me dead.” With that, Wesley aimed and pulled the trigger.

⃝

The first time Ford had been through a portal to the Nightmare Realm, his brother had pushed him in. The second time, he had failed in his mission to kill the dream demon and had barely managed to save the life of a child who eventually turned out to be his niece. So, when he saw the portal open again he did not need to hear Wesley say that fatal sentence to know something awful was going to happen. And there was no way he was going to let it happen to anyone but him.

The laser caught him in the side as he threw himself in front of Adeline. The pain was absolute agony, but it was still better than it hitting her in the heart. Dimly, he heard a clang as Mabel fired her grappling hook straight into Wesley’s firearm, knocking it to the other end of the room, but it was hard to focus on anything other than the sear of heat. Adeline was lowering him to the floor, and he was swearing, and she was saying something.

“No! No, you idiot!”

He was going to black out soon, he could feel it, but if he was lucky it would only be for a few seconds, because he _needed_ to be awake, the portal was still open, Wesley was still –

Wesley had Mabel.

“Nonono – don’t – don’t-” he managed to gasp out.

She was being hauled towards the portal.

⃝

Mabel felt four strong hands close around her as soon as she whipped around to check on Ford. The only glimpse she got was of him lying on the ground, Addi crouching beside him, before two of Wesley’s hands were trapping her arms together, and the other two were lifting her off the ground.

She struggled and shouted as Wesley began moving towards the portal. She did not want to visit that place again, not if Dipper and Stan hadn’t managed to rebuild the portal back home.

“Help!”

“Mabel!” Addi stood up, drawing her sword, but she was too far away for it to be any use. Already, she could feel her hair starting to float up from her face as the portal tried to pull her in, and her kicks and bites were having no effect on the resistance leader.

He let go, and the portal tugged her away.

The feeling was all too familiar, and all too horrible. A scream caught in her throat, and instead of Dipper’s yells ringing in her ears it was Addi’s and Ford’s, and she could practically hear Bill’s laughter again and she was _still falling_ –

A red laser flew by and smashed into the portal beacon. Abruptly, the portal swirled into nothingness, leaving Mabel free to drop, rather painfully, to the ground.

Her elbows hurt. Her knees hurt. Surprisingly, she wasn’t crying. Even more surprisingly, she wasn’t being attacked for the millionth time, although that might change.

 _I’ll deal with that in a minute,_ she thought, shivering and focusing on breathing evenly.

Footsteps. _Welp, time to deal with it._

Mabel weakly swung a punch, but it was caught easily, and someone tightly enfolded her into an embrace.

“It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay,” Addi whispered, like she was comforting herself as well.

“Adeline . . .” called Ford’s voice weakly.

“Oh, right, sorry,”

Addi picked her up, which Mabel was glad of, because she didn’t know if her legs could support her, and made her way back to where Ford was lying. They passed a few – were those soldiers? They were soldiers. They were arresting Wesley. Wikert had arrived after all.

⃝

Ford grunted as Mabel was transferred into his arms like some sort of comfort bear. A fairly accurate description as he did need a lot of comfort right then.

The pain had been sufficiently dampened by one of the biggest adrenaline surges he had ever felt in his life, and for once he had managed to completely beat back unconsciousness. Now, he was relatively content to lie on the floor and bleed until some sort of medical help arrived, as long as Mabel and Addi were safe.

“Are you okay, Grunkle Ford?” asked Mabel from his uninjured side.

“Of course I am,”

“He will be,” answered Addi simultaneously, and pulled a small medical kit from inside one of her pockets. She withdrew a sterile field bandage and moved aside his clothes until she could clearly see the wound. It was not large, thankfully, but there was quite a bit of blood. Mabel swallowed, so Ford quickly reassured her with a smile.

“Brace yourself,” said Addi as she cleared away the worst of the mess.

“Why-?” began Ford, but then she applied the bandage. Tiny little needles around the edge of the square sank into his skin, and he convulsed. The stinging stopped after a few seconds, and Ford was relieved to feel a strong anaesthetic being injected into him.

“That should tide you over until we find a hospital, you knucklehead. Don’t do that again.” She kissed him.

“Try and stop me,” he replied. Addi shook her head and Mabel _awwwed_ again.

“Adeline Marks?” a soldier asked, jogging over. Behind him, two others were standing guard over Wesley, who had apparently elected to come quietly and was kneeling on the floor. A third was examining the half-melted portal beacon. “You will find Director Lic on the third level.”

When he was occupied again, Addi muttered, “Cue escape,” and nodded at the exit door close by. Ford grabbed his gun from where it had fallen and leaned on her as they stood up. Mabel was grinning happily, presumably because they were finally getting away from these people.

They slipped out the door with no problem, Ford already digging in his pocket for the analyser and performing calculations in his head. He laughed in relief.

“We’re in luck, there’s a portal opening up a few hundred metres away in two minutes,”

Things were looking up.

Briefly.

Ford glanced back at the base they were walking away from, where the door was just swinging shut, and saw one of the soldiers put his gun to Wesley’s head. There was a flash of light as the door closed.

That execution was most certainly not legal.

A small noise beside him alerted him to the fact that Mabel had also seen it. With things as serious as this, it would not be long until someone noticed they were missing.

“What is it?” asked Addi, when she realised they were no longer with her.

The door crashed open again, and the soldiers sprinted out.

“RUN!” Ford shouted.

_Approximately four hundred metres to the portal, moving at a top speed of maybe twenty-five kilometres an hour, gives us about fifty-eight seconds until we reach it._

Ford’s foot kicked through the top of a sand dune, and he felt warm wetness start to flow under the bandage again. The anaesthetic would not hold up for much longer, and nor would the material. Mabel stumbled and only his grip on her arm kept her from falling.

_The sand is slowing us down too much. We can’t keep up the pace. Maybe ninety seconds until we reach it._

Red lasers lit up the darkness around them. The perpetual night meant they could not see where they were putting their feet, but it also meant the soldiers could not aim accurately. They did not seem to have night vision.

There was shouting, and suddenly the lasers stopped.

_Of course. They want Adeline alive. Probably Mabel and I too._

Not far to go.

With a gasp, the pain hit him again, quickly building in intensity. Ford felt the bandage come off completely, and he started to feel light-headed. No, no, no, he could not afford to stop now, they were almost there –

“Grunkle Ford!”

“Stanford!”

A particularly acute throb left him reeling, and despite all his efforts he fell to ground before they could climb the next dune.

Adeline knew immediately what was wrong; he saw her face go slack as his blood dripped out. He also saw her realise that they were not going to make it. At least, not all of them.

“No-” he started, but she grabbed his gun before he could.

“Nice try, Stanford, but I have to pay you back somehow. You’ve already saved my life tonight,”

The soldiers were getting closer. He could hear their footfalls now.

“No, Adeline, you don’t have to-”

“What’s going on? Grunkle Ford, can you move?” Mabel took his arm and managed to help him to his feet. Ford looked down at her scared face, and then at Adeline’s resolute one.

 _Mabel comes first._ That was the silent message in the air between them, and suddenly a very different pain was coursing through him, and all he could think about was how he should have known this would happen.

“Can you manage?” he said hoarsely.

“Please. I could take these guys in my sleep.” she said sardonically, but there was not the faintest trace of humour in any of her body language. “Use this.” She shoved another bandage into his hand.

“Addi?” said Mabel, and God, if he was not hurting before, he was now.

Adeline gave his niece the quickest and lightest of hugs, then began walking backwards, to where they could clearly hear the soldiers about to crest the last dune.

“Take care of your uncle, kiddo.” She glanced at him one last time, but refused to linger, and spun around with her sword in one hand and his gun in the other, just in time to impale the first person who came at her.

_Mabel comes first. Get her out of here._

“ADDI!” Mabel screamed, as though she had found her voice at last, and she made to leap forwards. For what, Ford did not know, maybe to help, maybe to try dragging her back, but he did not wait to find out. The portal had opened barely ten metres away from them, and Ford was damned if he was going to lose her as well. Her feet scuffed against the sandy ground, sending grains into the air, and her hands pulled at his, trying to get him to release her. She refused to stop and even doubled her efforts when nothing worked. Her screams pierced his eardrums, and her cries tore into his heart, but he gritted his teeth and forced himself to move, managing one step after the other, Mabel fighting all the way.

“ADDI! ADDI!”

The portal enveloped them.

“NO!”

The word echoed all around him as they passed through the light, building louder and louder to a crescendo until he could no longer bear it. There was no way he could focus on whatever visions were presenting themselves to him, not with the grief coursing through him.

When they stumbled out on the other side into daylight so blinding neither of them could see, Mabel kept struggling. She twisted and lunged and did whatever she could that came short of intentionally hurting him, all the way up until the portal disappeared. Then she went limp, as though her strings had been cut.

They both collapsed on the ground. Mabel turned around to cry and sob into his chest rather than the dirt, and Ford numbly took it as a good sign. She didn’t hate him, which made one of them.

He could not see in the light, but they appeared to be safe. And that was what broke him.

_Adeline Marks, your saving grace._

He tucked himself around Mabel and cried with her.

It could have been minutes or hours later, but at some point they quietened down. Mabel slowly sat up and one of her hands found his. Clenched tightly inside was the bandage.

“We should use this,” she said wearily.

⃝

Addi choked out her final sob and let the last of her tears fall. Then she stood up, dusted off her hands and knees, sheathed her sword, and looked fruitlessly for a holster to put Stanford’s gun in. She settled with holding it ready in her hands. She wasn’t out of this yet, and if Lic sent more soldiers after her she had to be ready. She didn’t think he would, though. He was doubtlessly celebrating his great victory, and by the time he started looking for her, she would be long gone. Portals cropped up fairly often in this dimension. Never to the same place twice, however.

That thought almost sent her to tears again. It was too much. She needed another moment, just one, before setting off again.

Breath hitching in her chest, Addi dug desperately through her pack for something, anything, that could help. There was the sell-bag, there was the portal beacon, there was . . . a holo-projector?

She brought it out and pressed the play button on the tiny slate. As expected, a hologram appeared. A security recording from the wreck-room, the only place that was monitored because of how out-of-hand things could get in there.

There was Stanford Pines, being mercilessly tickled by his niece. She almost dropped the device in shock. As she watched, the tables turned and then it was Mabel being tortured. There was no sound, but there didn’t need to be. She could hear it all in her head. As the hologram showed Mabel flopping into her own lap, more tears fell, mutinously ignoring her best efforts.

She was shaking from laughter, not sobs. She had completely forgotten her tired visit to the operations centre the morning after the recording. It had been well worth it.

Addi stuffed the holo-projector safely into a pocket and started walking.

⃝

“Food! Hot, cold, sweet, savoury, come and get some!”

“Clothes! Brand-new, second-hand, fit for all species!”

“Devices! Any on-the-go technology you need, it’s yours!”

“We need another analyser,” Mabel reminded Ford, tugging on his hand and nodding to the stall advertising devices.

Ford looked back and nodded. “Right, yes, good thinking, Mabel,”

He pulled off his scarf and goggles, squinting through the purple-tinged air at what was on display. Mabel had been very excited when they arrived in this dimension, but when Ford had noticed her getting slightly woozy he had immediately instituted a scarves-and-goggles-at-all-times rule for the foreseeable future. Much to Mabel’s disappointment, it seemed only to apply to her, and she remembered fondly how the air seemed to taste of grapes.

“This looks good,” Ford picked an analyser out and started haggling with the owner. Mabel’s gaze wandered.

There was a transmitter, broken by the looks of it, there was a water-purifier, she wouldn’t trust it, there was a locator.

A locator?

Mabel’s hand shot out and snatched it up, much to the stall owner’s chagrin. With her other hand she pulled off her scarf and goggles, much to her uncle’s chagrin. Before he could say anything, she shoved the pebble-like thing up to him and demanded he look at it.

He did, without any real interest at first. Then he realised what he was holding and almost flung it away in his haste to check it all over.

“Is this a real locator?” he asked rapidly.

“Yes, for a portal beac-”

“We know that,” said Mabel eagerly, “but where did you get it?”

“Um, some human I think, about a month ago. Sold me a whole bag full of stuff,”

Mabel’s heart was threatening to burst out of her chest with the rate it was beating at. Looking at Ford, she could tell he felt the same.

“This is the frequency of Addi’s portal beacon!” he exclaimed, pointing at some tiny glowing numbers. Mabel whooped and dived at him, hugging him as tight as she could.

“If you want me to change it, I can-” began the shopowner.

Ford pointed. “Shut up! We want every single one you have!”

Sure, she knew Addi’s portal beacon worked on a randomiser. She knew that Addi didn’t use the beacon all the time. She knew Addi might not even have it anymore, and that the chances of ever seeing her again were infinitesimally small. Most of all, she knew that the multiverse had done its very best to rip away everything that she loved, and that it wasn’t done yet.

But she also knew it had given them Addi once before. And it had given her Ford as well. It had even given her a planet that grew crystals she could infuse with Mabel-love.

So, if she could cheat by using those, she thought the odds were pretty good.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So. I can explain?  
> This was the plan from the beginning. Losing Addi was one of the first scenes I thought of when this thing came into my brain. I thought it was fitting, because it started off as a random, chance encounter that truly was a crossover between Adrift AU Mabel and Ford and Dimension Jumper Addi minus Ford. I wanted this thing to have symmetry, so this was the way I wanted it to end - not just because I wanted to hurt everyone who read it :). There are a lot of parallels in these later chapters to the earlier chapters, so hopefully that also adds to this symmetry thing.  
> Of course, I can't just leave it there. This is definitely not the *final* end.
> 
> This took SO LONG to write. It is a product of brute stubbornness.
> 
> Addi's sacrifice is definitely meant to mirror the actual Dimension Jumper AU, where she stays back so Ford can go home through the portal.
> 
> Ford: *doesn't pass out*  
> Me: Ah yes, character development


End file.
